X-Com 2: Coils
by Kalenath Shok-Tan
Summary: What is good? What is evil? When everyone and everything is bad, who do you turn to when things go wrong? This is a fanfiction, I own none of the rights to any X-Com franchise. There will be spoilers and references to my other X-COM fics. This fanfic starts about six months before the events of my other fanfic Choices
1. Chapter 1

**Ends and beginnings**

Everything was lost.

The conventional military forces were still trying in places, but they had no chance. The comparison was essentially a caveman fighting a modern commando. No matter how brave the caveman might be, his flint tipped spear simply didn't have the reach or damage of a modern battle rifle. The caveman's animal hide clothing might be proof against the elements and some of the animals of his time, but the commando's Kevlar armor would stop a flint tipped spear and wooden club easily. He had no way to win.

Now? _Earth_ had no way to win.

Not many people had known of the X-Com Initiative before the aliens had arrived. The disruption in global communication had bitten deep into any societies, some of which would never recover. It hadn't been long however before ham radio operators around the world were sending messages back and forth about humans fighting aliens forces on nearly equal terms. They appeared, fought, and disappeared, wearing uniforms and using equipment that no one knew. Sometimes they won, sometimes they lost. They always fought. Then one dark and terrible day, they had simply stopped appearing. No one had ever said why, but most assumed the worst.

After that, it was a forgone conclusion. Few humans had taken the UFO enthusiasts' crackpot ideas as gospel, but it was hard to deny them now, with circular purple things floating above cities, sometimes dropping monstrous troops, other times simply hovering out of reach of any terrestrial weapon and firing beams of devastation. Sometimes, they did worse.

"Run!" Samantha Simmons shouted at the kids as she bolted for the closest cover. She snarled at herself. She had known it was stupid to go out in daylight. Not that darkness seemed to make much difference to these alien things. She had never been a commando herself, her husband had been and he was MIA now along with millions of other humans. She had prided herself on staying in shape after her stint in the US Army but her chosen specialty of administrative assistant to a head of research hadn't prepared her for when the base that she worked at had been overrun by weirdness. Finding her two kids in the maelstrom of battle had been a miracle. Escaping the madness of the base after had been another. They had been lucky, but now? Their luck had run out.

She supposed it had only been a matter of time. Instead of just her two kids, five of them had wound up attached to her as she had fled. A couple of adults had also joined her, but time and attrition had caught up with them. She didn't know Matt or Janny's fates and she was glad of that. They had gone out foraging one day and simply hadn't come back. She had always had her hands full with the kids, trying to feed them from her meager store of woodcraft was a daunting task in and of itself. It had been decades since she was last in the woods, but she had remembered a lot from her time out there with her mom and dad. Thee forest outside the base had been a haven but it wasn't going to last and she knew it.

Little Katherine had fallen sick and nothing that Samantha had done could do anything for the fever. She been determined to go back into the base for medical supplies that she knew had to be in there. Nothing else was possible. She had to save Katherine. The tyke was only two! She had tried to leave the other kids behind to tend Katherine, but her two had simply followed her, silent ans wraiths in the forest. The others had followed as well, louder, but trying as best they could to follow her. She had simply shaken her head and made her way back onto the base. She didn't really blame them. Katherine's sickness was scary and none of them were over ten years old.

They had made it to the building Samantha had worked in and wonder of wonders, it hadn't been looted! That should have been an immediate red flag, but she was too happy to find intact medical supplies to care. It had been her son Mark who had warned her of the incoming purple flying thing and by then? It had been too late. She had gathered up what she could and fled anyway, but everywhere she went, more of the creatures appeared. Were they herding her? Why? None of them were firing, but she had to get the medicine back to Katherine.

Her eyes lit on a rifle that was lying on the ground. She grabbed it and shoved the bag of supplies into Mark's hands. The rifle had been lying out in rain and wind for some time, so it wasn't going to work, but it _would_ work well as a distraction, she hoped. She ran into a half demolished building, the children at her heels.

"Mark. Take the medicine to Katherine." Samantha said sternly. Her son shook his head savagely and her daughter looked scared but resolute as the others fanned out behind her. Her hands flowed in trained patterns, field stripping the rifle slowly and carefully. She hadn't done it in a long time and didn't want to mess anything up. To her amazement, the rifle seemed to be in firing condition. It couldn't have been out here since the base fell in that case. She heard a growl nearby as she finished reassembling the rifle. A quick check of the magazine showed twelve rounds and one flew out of the chamber when she checked it. There was something odd about the rifle's barrel, but she had no idea what. A wave and little Kimmy picked up the fallen round to hand to her mother. It was odd looking too, but she had no time to scrutinize it.

"Are they going to eat us, Mommy?" Kimmy asked in a small voice.

"I don't know, honey." Samantha admitted She handed the bag to another boy, a taciturn boy named Chris who never spoke. He took it and Samantha turned to scrutinize the area in front of her. Shadows were lengthening, night was falling. But despite the growing gloom, she could see forms that were nothing from Earth approaching. She took careful aim and fired, but what happened after was nothing she could have imagined. Instead of the flat crack of a normal rifle, or even a burst of automatic fire, a ruler straight blue line flashed form the muzzle to her chosen target, a hulking brute that was straight out of nightmare. Samantha stared as the hulking thing gave out a coarse scream and fell over to lie motionless. All of the other shadows bolted for cover. "Whoa!"

She stared at the rifle. What was a 'gauss weapon protoype'? She had no idea. She had been a _clerk_ for god's sake! She went still as a voice sounded from outside her haven.

"Surrender." The voice was raspy and obviously not from a human throat.

Samantha ignored that as she took aim at another shadows that was creeping towards her. She fired again and it too fell with a scream. Then the twilight came alive with green flashes. All she could do was hunker down and pray. She heard screams and crying as the kids cowered as well. The firing let up and she slid her head up to look.

Too soon. She never saw the Sectoid that leveled it's arm blaster and fired the plasma beam that killed her instantly.

"Mom!"

The boy's impassioned scream was cut off by a roar of rage as the kid picked up the rifle that his mother had so bravely tried to use. He didn't have even her limited level of skill with weapons, but the enemy was close now. He fired again and again as small forms bolted from the pitiful sanctuary, some falling to beams of energy, others to blows from various forms. He was firing and firing. Most of his shots hit nothing but ground or sky, but a couple managed by some miracle or rage induced skill to hit enemies. His sister was crying by his side as Chris finally fled, scuttling away as Mark kept firing.

The boy was angry. He was not trained and even if he had been? The enemy was coordinated and he only had one rifle and one set of eyes. He never noticed the Muton that approached from the side until it was close enough to lob a plasma grenade into the room where he lay beside his mom's corpse. Kim and Samantha Simmons joined billions of their fellow humans in death. Coincidentally, the blast destroyed the prototype that had been what the aliens were after in the first place. The Elders were not pleased. None of the kids made it back to where little Katherine slowly sank into a coma and perished with no one the wiser. Most of them died of exposure that night or the next. Only two of the runners were caught by the aliens and one of _those_ died of wounds sustained in the capture. Chris was the only survivor of those and _he_ took years of therapy to become functional at all.

Mark's fate was _worse_.

* * *

Somewhere, some time later

Mark woke, unsure of where he was. Everything was a hazy green and he felt pain in various places.

 _Do not move._ The words were not audible, they were inside his head and they were accompanied by an irresistible compulsion. He felt every muscle in his body slowly relax. He could felt things on his head, on his body, but he couldn't move at all. _No potential in this one._ Disgust sounded. _N_ _o psionic potential. A waste of resources._

 _Are you sure?_ Another voice sounded. _As young as this one is, it may be a good choice for infiltration._

 _No._ The other replied. _Most humans seem to feel that children, especially wounded children are a drain on their resources. Fools._ _If it had psionic potential, we could put it to the nurturer, but it does not._ _Put it in with the other dross_ _to be repaired or discarded as needed_ _. Perhaps the trainer can find a use for it._

Mark felt consciousness slip away, unsure of why the voices chilled him so.

He was jerked awake by a shock from the collar around his neck. Before he could even question why he was lying on a hard bunk all but naked, a kindly sounding female voice spoke in his ear.

"You are confused. That is normal." Mark stared around wildly, but there was no one else in the small room. "Nourishment will be provided as long as you are diligent in your studies. Succeed and be rewarded. Fail and be punished. For now? You have an appointment with the educator."

A door that Mark hadn't seen opened and a form straight out of nightmare stalked in. The apparition was human shaped, but its skin was mottled with an almost scale like pattern and its eyes were hidden by black sunglasses. It wasn't human! It strode forward without word and grabbed hold of his arm. He had no way to fight as it dragged him out the door and into a corridor. His arm hurt, but he couldn't speak as he was half led half dragged down a hallway and then another. His guide/captor shoved him into another room and he stumbled to his hands and knees. The female voice from before sighed as he cried.

"They don't have to be so rough. They _enjoy_ it." Gentle hands eased Mark into a sitting posture, but then something went over his head and he cried out as his vision faded. "Don't be afraid boy. I won't hurt you." Mark was struggling feebly as the hands lifted him to his feet and guided him forward. The hands felt wrong, not enough fingers? "Don't fight it, boy. I won't hurt you, but the equipment will if you fight. It won't matter in the end but your experiences will shape who you become." The hands guided him to a raised something or other. "Up you get."

"Who are you?" Mark tried to stop, but the hands lifted him up and set him on whatever. Then they were pressing him down despite his feeble struggles. His arms and legs hurt. The thing around his neck hurt.

"I suppose you primitives would call me 'Easer' for that is my function." The other replied after a moment. "It doesn't have to be brutal, what we do. Such is often counterproductive. But trying tell _them_ that. The Elder's field troops are not picked for sense, but for loyalty." She sighed again. "My job is to ease you into your new role. You are to be educated and then trained to serve the Elders. You were badly injured and high command wishes some recompense for the expenditure of resources healing you."

"They killed my mom!" Mark protested as he was laid out flat. He tried to writhe away, but strong things wrapped around him and held him in place. "They killed my _sister!_ They killed _everybody!_ "

"You have my sympathy." The other sounded close to tears now. "I know what it is to lose family. But be still now." Something hummed nearby and Mark went still as he felt something touch his scalp. His hair! Someone was cutting his hair! He tried to move and he couldn't as cold slathered across his scalp. Cold was all over him now and something stung his arm. He felt pressure lower down, but nothing hurt now. It was all numb. The voice crooned at him. "Almost done. Soon, now. You won't have to worry about anything again."

"What are you doing to me?" Mark demanded. He intended to shout that, but his voice came out a croak. Something was pressing down on his chest now. It felt warm. Was that breathing? He smelled something odd and was suddenly woozy as light flared in his vision. He couldn't look away from the two bright red pinpoints of light as they bored deep into his eyes and started spinning.

"We are showing you a better way." The other replied as warm wetness surrounded him. "The educator will teach you while you sleep and your body is fully repaired. Just relax now and let me handle everything." Its croon was hypnotic. Mark had no way of fighting and finally sighed and did as instructed.

* * *

Easement Specialist H-2397 watched the boy halfway submerge into the green fluid that would be his home for the foreseeable future. The scans were all clear. The boy was not psionic in any way, but he was strong and from his readings, educable to a high degree. He was grown up sufficient to be strong enough to endure and young enough to be capable of adjusting to the new world that he would grow up in. The small reptilian form that lay beside him would keep him company as the fluid repaired his body. He would never feel alone again. The nanotech that flowed in the fluid would take time to repair the grievous wounds that the poor boy had suffered. That was not a detriment in this case. The oxygenated fluid would not drown him even if he aspirated it, the mask over his nose and mouth was to allow various gasses easy access to his lungs. The other tubes went in as designed, doing minimal damage. The Elders built well.

"Beginning mind wipe." The easement specialist hummed softly as the purple energy swept over Mark's shaven skull. The energy would not physically harm anything except specific chemical markers inside the human brain. The markers that made up memory in humans. No matter what, this always made her feel dirty even when she knew that this was for the best. This boy had a future unlike far too many of his people. It didn't take long. It never _did_ to destroy a life.

The boy woke up crying and the easement specialist did what she did.

"A-137, hold him." The easement specialist commanded and the Viper leaned closer, her small arms surrounding the crying human. The easement specialist leaned close and her hands were gentle as she soothed the boy's rhythms with both gentle caresses to his scalp and soft words. "It is all right." She crooned. "It is all right. It is going to be all right. Just relax, boy. You do not remember, but your name is Mark. No, no… Don't struggle. It is all right. You are all right. Easy."

She crooned again and the boy relaxed in the embrace of the two aliens. He was sobbing in fear and barely remembered pain. The easement specialist's heart went out to him and she soothed him as she had been designed.

The boy couldn't talk anymore. He had lost the ability to do that along with his memory. The educator would teach him that along with many other things, but without access to psionics, it would take time. As would healing his injuries completely. Luckily for Mark, time was one thing that the Elders had now that Earth was finally subjugated.

He slowly relaxed under her ministrations and the easement specialist felt a sense of accomplishment as the boy fell asleep smiling. The small Viper looked up from her nest beside the boy's ribs and the easement specialist nodded at the reptilian's unspoken question.

"He will do well." The easement specialist said with a nod. "The Elders have commanded, we obey, but pain is never the goal. It can teach, but it can also harm in so many ways." The Viper laid her head on the boy's chest, her own rhythms synching to his and the easement specialist felt happiness. It made a noise of query.

"Yes." The alien mind control specialist said quietly as she laid the educator over Mark's head and watched carefully as its neurodes extended into his ears and eyes. As designed, they caused no damage to the soft tissue as they accessed his brain to begin rewriting it. She turned to go. "He will serve us well and you will be his companion, his guide and his connection to the Elder's Light. If only _all_ of their problems were so easy to fix..."

She left Mark to his fate and strode into the next room. A female human clad in the ragged remnants of a uniform was writhing in the straps that held her, muscles bulging as she fought uselessly. She had been captured in one of the last battles fought by organized troops near a place called 'Moscow' and she had been knocked unconscious but not hurt otherwise. None of her companions had been so lucky. She had already torn off the mask again. This made three times. Keeping her still was going to take drastic measures.

[This doesn't have to be hard, Marina.] The easement specialist said mildly in the woman's native language as the woman spat what was probably profanity at her. [You will serve. It is only a matter of time and how much you hurt yourself. We have time and you _will_ serve.]

The woman spat again and the easement specialist fought hard not to let out a human sigh. She had been around enough humans to start absorbing their mannerisms. The Elders put up with it because she was so very good at what she did.

[Very well, the hard way it is.] The easement specialist waved an appendage to the other in the room and the Viper spit out a small batch of her toxins that landed on the woman's face. Marina coughed and sputtered as the poison took hold. She gasped for breath and then she slumped in her bonds. It wasn't a lethal dose, just enough to daze her and leave her both slow and weak. The easement specialist stepped forward as Marina coughed weakly.

"It is all right, Marina." The easement specialist crooned as she readied the mindwipe gear. The Viper slid closer too, ready to ease the tough young woman once the preliminary work was done.

"You will feel much better in a few minutes..."


	2. Chapter 2

**Traitors**

20 years later

Mark stood, silent against the makeshift plank wall and just watched as others ran through the equally makeshift obstacle course. He had taken his turn through when the leaders of this hidden camp had demanded he show his ability. He had held back, not desiring to show all of his skill. That would have instantly raised eyebrows at the very least. Probably worse. He had to admit, these people were organized far better than he might have expected for scavengers, looters and occasional raiders.

He saw Marina step out of the cobbled together building that served as the camp's infirmary and he bit back a sigh as she shook her head. Her face was thunderous. Everyone made way as she stepped across the small clearing to an ancient punching bag that had been set up for training. Mark moved to hold the bag just as Marina slammed a fist into it.

"How bad?" He asked in a very quiet voice.

"We are going to lose both." Marina replied the same way. "Mother _and_ child. There is nothing we can do. Without proper medical care..." She hit the bag three times in rapid succession but far more awkwardly than he knew she was capable of. She wouldn't break cover. Not here. Not now. Everyone who had been watching her looked away. They knew.

Even Mark felt a pang. Sara Jane was a good person in a very bad situation. She was kind and almost bubbly in her need to comfort others. She was _nice_. Few people in this camp could have that said about them. Having _her_ of all people succumb to a lingering pneumonia left over from the last cold rain of winter was a terrible blow. The fact that she was the sole female in the camp who had managed to survive to the third trimester of pregnancy was worse.

"Mark… I..." Marina gritted her teeth, slamming her fists into the bag as her instincts fought with her training. Mark leaned close to her ear.

"Continue. The. Mission." Mark muttered. "We have our orders."

"Yeah." Marina slammed the bag three more times and slumped as another figure approached. She turned to nod at the proclaimed leader of this band. Karen was the woman everyone looked to when things went wrong. She had been military of some kind, once upon a time. That showed in the way she carried her ancient AK-47 rifle expertly. Now? She was responsible for thirty nine lives. Soon to be thirty seven.

"I take it the antibiotics didn't work." Karen's words were not a question, but Marina shook her head anyway. "You did your best."

"She is worried about _me!_ " Marina wasn't faking those tears. She was highly emphatic. That had always been a boon on these types of jobs, but it came with severe side effects. Mark had held her more than once as she cried herself to sleep after a trauma. "She told me to leave her. To let her sleep. You know what will happen when she does! Karen… I..."

"You still feel." Karen laid a hand on Marina's shoulder. "You are not lost, jaded and bitter beyond all recovery as so many of the rest of us are. That makes you a very good nurse, but it will also hurt you." Mark nodded. Karen shook her head. "You two are a conundrum." Mark did not flinch. He had known the moment he saw her that she wasn't stupid. "You appear out of nowhere and both of you are far too well trained to be normal scavengers. You are dirty enough, but the rest? No."

"We can't talk about it." Mark said softly.

"Then I cannot trust you." Karen said mildly. He did not miss that the hand she retracted from Marina's shoulder went back to the fore grip of her rifle or that the other hand was on the handle and her finger was _off_ the trigger. That meant it was loaded, a round was in the chamber and the weapon was off safe. Humans who took foolish chances way out here did not survive long.

"Do you want us to leave?" Marina asked. Karen looked at her and the distraught woman shook her head. "I know you cannot trust. Hell, I understand and can even accept it. I don't like it, but hey, life doesn't care what we _like_." Her own bitterness at this horrible situation came through loud and clear.

"Yes." Karen said and Mark did not miss three other forms approaching, all with weapons raised. Those were not ancient weapons. Those were more modern, from the time just before the Elders had come. _Exactly_ what he and Marina had been looking for. This was a Resistance camp. It had to be.

"We are going." Mark said with a nod. "For the bed and the meal, thank you." It hadn't been much, just a lump of animal fur blankets with a seed filled sack for a pillow and beans mixed with scavenged green onions as a meal, but it had been offered and it was merely polite to acknowledge that. "Can we have our weapons back?"

"Do I look that stupid?" Karen asked sourly. Yeah, like she would hand unknown people weapons inside her camp! It was too bad she was an enemy combatant, Mark might have liked her. "They are waiting for you half klick out. Here." She handed him the bolts for his pistol and Marina's rifle. Mark took them without comment. It would be the work of seconds for him or Marina to reassemble their weapons, even in the dark. "You will be escorted a ways out when you leave."

Mark shrugged and started for the gate, Marina a half step behind him. Two of what had to be Resistance soldiers followed them, weapons ready. The others moved to flank the gate, Marina kept her eyes on the ground, her face downcast. Mark didn't look to either side, just strode out the gate as if he hadn't a care in the world.

"Say the word." The voice came over the subdermal implant attached to a small bone in Mark's ear. "Charges are armed. We have all of the armed subjects in sight."

"You spot the sniper?" Mark inquired subvocally. He saw Marina tense.

"Already snoozing with two tranquilizer darts in her." The other replied. "They really needed a spotter for that position."

"Debrief _after_ the mission." Mark chided. "On my go. Three, two, one. _Go!_ "

On the word 'Go', muted cracks heralded the deaths of armed humans. Mark spun one way and Marina the other. Their sudden movement took both close guards close by complete surprise even half suspecting as they had been. Before either one realized what was happening, Marina had stuck, her target dead before he hit the ground. Mark was bare moments after. They had no time and no way to do it non-lethally, so they did what they had to. They neutralized their targets as they had been trained since they could remember. Mark lowered his kill, a one time pretty dark haired woman, to the ground gently as soft 'puffs' came from the camp amid shouts of alarm. Mark hadn't been idle while he had been 'resting'. Words came over the com as Mark scooped up the dead woman's rifle. It was lighter than it looked and had a full magazine. He had trained with such weapons for just such a situation.

"Watch the left. Enemy combatant moving to cover."

A 'crack' in the distance heralded the death of an enemy. A burst of automatic fire came and annoyed sounds came over the com. mark shook his head. He would step hard on com discipline after the mission was done.

"One armed enemy remaining. I have no shot." The team sniper declared. "The leader is inside the building designated 'medical'. Walls are stone, too thick to shoot through. Anyone have line of sight?"

A chorus of negatives came as the pair ran back towards the camp. Humans lay every which way. Some were dead, most were unconscious. Sentiment would come after the mission was done.

"You get a gas charge in there?" Mark asked Marina. That was the strongest built building in the compound. Hence why Marina had worked to hard to get in. The humans hadn't wanted to let her in, but when she had produced a small packet of pre-Fall antibiotics? They had.

"Underneath the girl." Marina's hard face was a far cry from the empathetic nurse she portrayed so often. It was amazing how many doors that crying face could open. What was more amazing was that she could turn it on and off. She had fooled _telepaths_. Mark looked at her and she shook her head. "Her sickness was too far along. Her brain was gone from the fever. I am amazed she was conscious last night. Even Advent tech wasn't going to save her _or_ her kid. Quicker this way. I put it under her head. It will be painless."

"Mercy is rarely a bad thing." The voice of their team leader came over the com and Mark felt his tension ease a bit. Then again, that was what their Nest Mother was for. "We cannot save them all, but we must not forget that each life lost lessens us. Each death lessens the Elders. It is needed, but it is never right."

"Yes, Mother." All of the team chorused.

"We need to end this now. Blow it, Marina." Mother commanded and Marina pulled a detonator out of a hidden pocket. She hit the button on it without hesitation. A 'puff' came from the building as Mark covered the doorway with his 'borrowed' rifle.

Karen staggered out, gasping. Her face was flushed but she took aim as soon as she saw Mark. Too late. Mark fired. The primitive human weapon barked and a burst of projectiles tore through Karen's makeshift body armor. She fell to land awkwardly, but she was still moving, still trying to raise her rifle as Mark stepped forward, rifle at the ready.

"You… Bastards..." Karen gasped as Mark kicked the AK-47 away from her grip. She as still reaching for it so Mark stepped on her arm. She bit back a scream as she glared at him. "You…"

Mark watched warily as Marina bent down and deftly injected the stricken human with a quick acting sedative. She was unconscious before Marina started tending her wounds.

"Clear." Mark called.

"Clear." Came a call from the other side of the camp as four more forms appeared. Two were human clad in dark jumpsuits covered in armor. Two were _not!_ They all slid over and _through_ the makeshift wall as if it were no obstacle at all. Not that it really was.

"Clear." Came the word from the sniper team.

"Clear." Marina said quietly as she finished tending Karen's wounds and then started binding her with short cords she carried for many different purposes.

"Call in support." Mark said calmly as he rose from his combat crouch. "We have..." He did a rough count. "Twenty seven humans to process." He nodded to Marina who nodded back. "The Elders will be pleased with this camp eliminated. Especially if they are who I think they are. Taking the leader alive was a plus. Well done, everyone. Now, we secure them and get them ready for transport to base camp. That is all of them in this area."

He paused and stared at something half hidden in the distance. He couldn't quite make it out. It was covered by camouflage netting and it wasn't any tech he was familiar with. He had seen it before, but it had been well guarded and he hadn't been trusted, so he had kept his distance. Now? He could see it clearer, but still couldn't make heads of tails of it. He walked towards it as his team spread out to check the humans and bind them per protocol.

"I saw this before but didn't get a clear look. What _is_ this thing?" Mark asked his team. "Anyone?"

"Uh..." The tech's technical being shook her head as she too scrutinized it. "Not sure, Mark." She slithered up to it and looked closer. "Obviously human tech mixed with ours. Generator here, transmission dish here..." She muttered softly in her own language and then her hood flattened in shock or fear. "By the _Elders_!"

"Ami?" Mark asked, weapon rising, but no threats showed themselves and he forced himself to relax.

"This piece of tech is a wide spectrum emitter." She pointed at a piece of gear attached to the dish. "The rest of it is power and amplification. This is a jammer of some kind." The Viper said with a shudder. He stepped up to her and she slithered close, relaxing a bit. As always, proximity helped with her nerves. She was very high strung. She was damn good at what she did, so they put up with her. "Some kind of _psionic_ jammer. Mother needs to see this."

"I am a bit busy, child." Mother replied calmly. "We still have a dozen humans who need care at the base camp along with the other prisoners." The team had been busy in clearing this area of humans.

"I know." Ami replied. She started fiddling with her tech gear. "I am sending images via high speed wireless. If this is what I _think_ it is, this is how they hid from overflights. If high altitude surveillance cannot detect them..." She trailed of as Mark made a face.

"...then we have all _kinds_ of problems." Mark completed her worried words sourly. Advent couldn't be everywhere. Even with automation and numbers, just wasn't possible. So they relied on high altitude scanning to detect human concentrations. All kinds of scanning, but psionic was always the most reliable. Or, it _had_ been. "Anyone see any of the humans working on this?" A chorus of negatives came back and Mark shook his head. "Great, so we have to interrogate _all_ of them."

"This is bad, children." Their Nest Mother's voice was subdued. "That device… I bet it can cut off any psionic communications. If the humans get such things working in numbers, Advent will have huge problems."

"Do not touch it!" Mark warned as Ami started for the thing again. "If Karen was anything, she was a planner. She will have it trapped." Ami slithered back so fast that in any other situation, it might have been humorous. Not here. Not now. He laid a hand on Ami's shaking shoulder and she slid up to him, then wrapped around him seeking comfort. It didn't hurt, her clinging. Far from it. Mark too felt comforted as he had all his life. "We need to get this back to mother. Now. This is priority, even more than the humans."

"The leader will know more." Marina rose from where she was finished binding a young human. The boy slept, his face still holding the rictus of fear he had held when the gas he had inhaled had knocked him out.

"True. I am calling in transport." Mother said firmly. "Rachel, check it."

"Yes Mother." The team's demolition expert strode up, her eyes and scanners roving over the device as Mark half led, half carried Ami away from the device.

"She may need me." Ami protested.

"If she does, she will call you, Ami." Mark reassured her and gently pried her off himself. She resisted. She wasn't a brave being but she was determined to serve her family despite that and everyone admired her for her spirit.

"Better get off him, Ami." The other Viper on the team warned. "If _Alley_ sees you wrapped around him like that, she may tear you a new one again." Ami released Mark so quickly that she fell to lie in a heap. Then again, Alley was very possessive of her partner.

"Ami..." Mark groaned as he bent down to pick up his shuddering nest mate. "You know Alley won't hurt you."

"I know." Ami said weakly. "But she is scary. You are _all_ scary."

"Yeah." Mark stroked the cowering Viper's head gently. "It is what we do. Come on, we have work to do. For the Elders." Ami smiled at him as only a Viper could and her tongue licked out to taste his cheek. A Viper's kiss.

"For the Elders."

* * *

Twenty minutes later

Ami had gone with the crew transporting the jammer. Rachel had found no less than _four_ self destruct charges attached to the device and disabled them all. Flying transports were landing, being loaded with humans prisoners and taking off as quickly as Mark's team could manage. A pod of Advent troops had been deployed to augment the team's security, but so far, no further threats had materialized. No one relaxed. Not here. Not now.

"Moc Team Lead, this is Overwatch Sixty Seven Alpha."

Mark rose for the pile of papers he had been perusing and keyed his com. Everyone looked at him and he shook his head. They went back to work. Only a few prisoners remained, all still unconscious. Why would one of Advent's pilots be calling him? Yes, a pair of medium class space capable ships commonly called UFOs by humans were on high guard, but…

"Sixty Seven Alpha, this is Moc Team Lead." Mark replied. "Go."

"Did your team set a fire near your base camp? Over." The pilot inquired.

"That is a negative, Sixty Seven Alpha." Mark replied instantly. No one wanted to draw human attention to that place. "What do you see? Over."

"Lots of smoke near there." The pilot replied. Mark tensed and he saw the rest of his team do the same. "I tried the base and got nothing. Can you make contact? Over."

"Stand by." Mark changed frequencies without waiting to hear the pilot's response. "Base camp, this is Moc Team Lead. Requesting status report." There was no response. "Mother, do you read me?" No response. Everyone was staring at him and he shook his head. "Get back to work. We still have prisoners to take into the Elder's Light."

The team did as instructed. Few humans would embrace such glory willingly, but the Elders had time. They always had time. Mark keyed his com again.

"Sixty Seven Alpha, that is a negative." Mark called. "No response. Can you do a low pass? Over."

"Moving onto a new course now. Will keep the channel open." The pilot sounded tense and who could blame him? This area was well known for human dissident activity. While it was unlikely they could harm the fast moving and high up craft, that _didn't_ mean it was impossible. Mark waited impatiently. He couldn't do anything but wait and that was always the hardest part. "Approaching coordinates now. No sign of any-" He broke off and when he spoke again, his voice held horror. "By the _Elders!_ " Mark felt his stomach plummet as the pilot breathed a prayer.

"Sixty Seven Alpha! Report!" Mark demanded, even though he was not authorized to command anyone but his team.

"Smoke _is_ base camp." The pilot had rage in his voice now. "Repeat: Smoke is _coming_ from your base camp."

"It is burning."


	3. Chapter 3

**Loss**

Mark was the first of his team off the transport when it grounded. Unlike Advent's troops, he couldn't simply leap out of the hovering ships. He wasn't augmented like they were. The Advent pod who had been delegated to help secure the area was fanning out, their weapons ready. No one shot at them and that was a good thing.

The _only_ good thing.

Their camp was in ruins. The tents weer on fire or blasted or both. The pens they had spent so much time building and camouflaging had been blown up. The pallet of stores looked like someone had fired off entire magazines of projectiles into the stacks.

"No." Mark's face was set in stone as Cable went to his knees beside a small, still form. The team sniper as cold as ice in almost any situation. Not this one. "No, no, no, Ana! _No!_ "

Each human in the team had been partnered with a Viper as companion and guide in the brave new world they lived in. The pairs had shared everything. Eating, learning, sleeping, the groups had been inseparable. It wasn't perfect. Many had perished over the years and the Vipers paired with them had sickened and died despite everyone's best efforts. Alley was Mark's partner and he didn't see her body in the wreckage. Marina knelt beside another small scaled form and bowed her head as she turned it to see Ami's still face. Mark felt his heart lurch. They had been a great pairing. Ami was a tech and Marina a medic. Both lost souls and hurting in so many ways. They had truly been made for each other. And now? Marina was alone. So was Cable. Ana had been his spotter and had gone back to the base with Ami. Now, she too was dead.

Mark was shaking in rage as he glared around the compound. Where before it had been camouflaged from easy sight, now every hiding place was torn asunder by explosions and gunfire. The holding pens… He stared at the patterns of blasts marks, they made no sense to him. He shook his head.

"Cable? Marina?" Mark said softly. "How did they die?"

"Shot by human style projectiles." Cable replied instantly, hate in his tone. Ana had been his partner for his whole life. Small wonder he was angry. Marina nodded silently. "Filthy _humans!_ "

"We were close enough to hear gunshots. let alone _explosions!_ " Marina slowly and gently closed Ami's staring eyes. "Why didn't we?"

"Muffled by the trees?" Mark muttered as he stalked towards the main dwelling. "Some kind of noise suppressors? I know humans used such once. Fan out. See… See what we can find. What is left." He cursed himself for failing his nest. The others nodded, Cables face as set as Mark's as the sniper rise, his rifle in hand. Marina didn't move, her hand on Ami's still hood. "Marina..."

"Give me a minute." Marina said softly. Mark looked at her and then away. They had lost nest mates before. Some in combat. Some to accidents. Never like this.

"I will check the lab." Mark said slowly. No one else had started for that. No one wanted to look. There were limits to anyone's discipline. "The prisoners..." He paused, staring at the pens. They were full. The humans who had been inside were still there, torn by bullets and shrapnel from blasts that everyone should have heard. Obviously none were going to be moving again. "They killed our prisoners?" He asked no one in particular. "Why?"

No one spoke. Everyone was in shock. Mark shook his head and ducked under the flap that led into the tent that their mother has used as a base of operation. A young human girl he recognized as having been brought in the day before lay on the table, her injuries had been carefully tended and bandaged but she would never rise. The bullet hole in her head saw to that. The equipment was trashed. It looked like at least two weapons had lashed the area with projectile fire but his mother was nowhere to be seen. There wasn't even any blood except for the human girl's. Somehow, that did not reassure him. Nothing looked salvageable but he saw a video recorder flashing. Mother had always recorded her work for a number of reasons. Mainly for recording the procedures she did on each subject to allow Advent medics to start building medical files for each when they were relocated. The machine was too badly damaged to use, but the memory might still be functional. He pulled the drive and stepped out into the carnage filled clearing.

"She is not in here." Mark said firmly. Everyone relaxed a little. "The girl she was treating is, but the human was killed with the same kind of weapon. Executed at close range."

"Someone threw grenades into the pens." Rachel was as subdued as the rest. Mark stared at her, horror eclipsing even the other horrors he had seen and she nodded. "They killed the humans we were going to enlighten where they slept. None of them had any chance."

"Hey!" Karina's jubilant voice had everyone freezing. "Alina! I found _Alina!_ She is _alive_!"

" _Don't touch her!_ " Mark and Rachel both snapped and everyone froze in place. Mark snapped his head in a nod to Rachel and the team demo specialist ran towards where the team's linguist stood half crouched, her hand outstretched toward a tree.

"Everyone else! Perimeter!" Mark said savagely. "Whoever did this had to have left traces. _Find them!_ "

The Advent pod remained where they were, the officer watching warily as Mark strode to where Rachel was kneeling by the tree that Karina was standing upright by now. Karina's face was ashen. Alina was propped against the tree. No, she was _impaled_ on a branch, the wooden sort of stake clean through the Viper's lower body. From the looks of her, she had been tossed here by an explosion.

"They rigged her to blow." Karina said weakly. "If I had..." Mark patted her shoulder awkwardly. He wasn't very good at social stuff.

"She is your nest mate." Mark shrugged as she turned a stricken face to him. "Of _course_ you wanted to help her. She is the first thing you remember." He shook his head. "No sign of Alley, Adika or Aroa."

"Or Mother." Karina said softly. Mark nodded. "Does that bother you as much as it bothers me?"

"Yes."

"Lead." Jack's quiet voice had Mark jerking. Jack never meant to startle people, he was just very good at sneaking. Karina jerked and would have said something, but then she looked at Jack's face and thought better of it. She turned back to see Rachel remove a small device from underneath the stricken Viper and then went to her knees beside her partner when Rachel nodded to her. Marina came up as Rachel stepped back, her face set as she pulled her gear and started to work. "This wasn't a battle. This was an ambush. Our people never saw it coming."

"Whoever did this hit hard and fast." Mark agreed with the scout as Rachel stepped back to where he stood, scrutinizing the device in her hand. "Mother should have had the time to call out. To get a warning out."

"The jammer is gone, Lead." Jack said quietly. Mark froze and Jack nodded. "They didn't drag it away. The only sign that is out of place is marks of a transport landing there." He waved to the side of the base camp.

"An _Advent_ transport?" Mark demanded.

"Whatever it was had four landing vanes." Jack replied, still tightly controlled. Then again, Aroa was missing to and she was _his_ partner. "Either Advent or something intended to _look_ like Advent. I found signs of three Vipers knocked unconscious and dragged over there. Something heavy was dragged from the lab tent over there too. Tracks say they were put in something and now? That something is gone."

"And Mother is gone too. I bet I know what that heavy something was." Mark sighed. "The machinery is all trashed, but I found a recording chip. Maybe we can get something from it."

"Lead." Karina said softly from behind them. "You need to see this."

Everyone turned to see Karina had opened Alina's clenched hand. The Viper had apparently fought whoever had attacked her. She hadn't managed to hurt them, but she had grabbed hold of something. A small patch of fabric shone in the stricken Viper's hand. The symbol was familiar to every team member.

"X-Com." Mark said softly.

X-Com was a bit of a mystery. Most Advent knew that the human forces that had fought the Elder's coming had been utterly outclassed and easily overrun. Few knew that there had been another organization that had been working in secret, not affiliated with the rest of the Earth militaries. They had been damned dangerous and had done a lot of damage before they had been destroyed, albeit with massive loss of life on the parts of the Elders' forces. Today, if any of them still existed, they were running, scattered, broken remnants. There had been reports of attacks in places with gear that was far better than most and by forces for better organized than most. But there had never been any concrete reports. Sure, some wackos with primitive radio sets claimed to be fighting Advent, as crazy as that was, but most humans outside of the city centers were like the band that Mark and his team had taken down earlier. Dangerous to be sure, but limited. The group today was the first that Mark had seen with those 'just prior to the fall of Earth' design rifles.

"That… No." Mark shook his head. "Even if the wackos _could_ have, which, maybe they have troops, I don't know. If _they_ had done this, they would have killed _everyone_ , not _taken_ them."

"And why would they kill all the humans?" Marina asked, her face streaked with tears as she worked. She was not crying now. No. She was furious. "Those people were sedated. No threat at _all_." She gasped. Everyone spun to see Alina's eyes open. The Viper was trying to talk. "No!" Marina begged. "Alina, don't move or talk! You are badly hurt. We need a medevac!"

The Viper was struggling weakly and no one knew why. Then she tapped her wrist unit and Karina smiled and nodded. "She wants to type! Here, sister. Type to me and I will speak for you."

Alina smiled and started to type slowly and laboriously. Karina was glued to her side and Marina was watching the wounded Viper like a hawk. The others moved to search again.

"She says they put that in her hand after she was hurt." Karina said slowly. "Why?"

"Psychological warfare or a diversion." Mark shook his head. "Right now? We have more important things to worry about." Mark spun and strode to where the Advent Officer was watching the scene unfold. "Our long range coms are trashed. We have a sorely wounded nest mate. We need medevac. Now."

"Already en-route and the closest trauma center has been notified." The officer nodded. "This makes no sense. We should have heard something." Mark nodded agreement.

"I read a report that humans once used weapons that were designed to be silent. Maybe they found a way to cancel out the noise of explosions?" Mark made a face. "Maybe some group of dissidents found some?" He shook his head. "Not a pleasant thought."

"No." The officer agreed. "One more thing, since you are Team Lead..." He leaned closer to Mark. "All of our tac-nets just went down." Mark stared at him and the Officer nodded."We have coms, so we could call for help, but that net was supposed to be invulnerable. It is Elder tech and psionic. The jammer you found might have been able to block it, but it isn't here."

"Something tells me this is not a coincidence." Mark said flatly. The officer nodded, his visible face set in a grimace. Mark paused. What had he just seen? "We will hold the perimeter and..." There it was _again_. Something had moved in the bushes. "Officer, do not move." Mark said softly and then switched to subvocal. "Unknown in the bushes. My ten, range thirty." The Officer was staring at him and Mark shook his head. "Sniper. My team will flush him to your pod and..."

"There is no need." The calm and considered voice was utterly out of place as the bush shook and a form stepped out of it. "You have good eyes, Operative. There are very few who can detect me when I am hiding."

Mark was hardly the only person to gape as a _Chosen_ stepped forward. He quickly schooled his expression as the blue skinned form nodded to him. He also lowered his weapon. He had recovered his own weapon while the prisoners had been processed and felt much better with his Advent railgun in hand. He knew better than to point it at a Chosen. They were the will of the Elders made manifest. If this Chosen decided that Mark and his whole team had to die? They would. None would resist.

"I was hunting in the area and heard the call for medical support." The Chosen turned to look at the stricken Viper, frowning slightly as Marina and Karina stepped between him and her. "You really think I would stoop to killing an injured and immobilized servant of the Elders?"

"All we have to go on is hearsay." Mark replied, not daring to move as orange eyes swept over him. The Chosen was vaguely humanoid in form and wore an odd hooded garment that probably had more tech in it than Mark's whole team put together could boast. The blue skinned being held a long rifle easily and stood like a sniper, watchful, waiting. "We have never met one of you before." He bowed to the Chosen, but did not take his eyes from the alien form.

"Your Nest Mother taught you well." The Chosen nodded to Mark and then spun in a slow circle, probably seeing things that Mark and his people had not. He slowly shook his head. "I had thought my own prey might have done this. But this is not their work." Mark stood and waited. The Chosen nodded approval. "Humans once had a saying: 'Patience is a virtue.' It is very true. Nothing is more important in hunting than patience." Mark inclined his head in acknowledgment and the Chosen actually smiled. "You would stand there all day if I did, wouldn't you?"

"Yes sir." There was no emotion in Mark's words. He meant it. He would.

"I see." The Chosen slowly shook his head again. "This was not done by Reapers." The name meant nothing to Mark, but the Advent officer tensed. "They strike without warning and vanish as quickly as they appear, but this? No. They would not have been able to move the jammer." Of course he knew about that. He likely had constant reports on anything and everything odd in his area of operation. "Destroy it? Maybe, but they could not remove it. What have you found?"

"My team's scout found signs that mirror an Advent transport landing." Mark frowned. "He found human tracks that seem to show that our nest mates, and perhaps our mother, were dragged into the transport. The jammer? We do not know."

"Tracks." The Chosen was suddenly intent and his eyes bored into Mark. "Show me."

"Jack!" Mark waved and the scout stepped forward, bowing to the Chosen who jerked his head. The pair strode silently towards where Jack had seen the marks. They did not speak, Jack indicated a spot and then another and the Chosen nodded slowly, then made an odd motion with his hand. Jack nodded back and the pair strode off, eyes on the ground.

"Who are the Reapers?" Jack asked the Officer, not bothering to keep his voice down. If there were enemies anywhere nearby, they were doomed with a Chosen nearby.

"Cowards who strike from hiding and vanish." The Officer was obviously annoyed and more than a bit unnerved by the Chosen. Not that Mark could blame him. The blue skinned form was _terrifying_. That was totally intentional. The Chosen were the Elder's swords. Or precisely targeted sniper rounds in this case. "They are nearly impossible to localize and even when we manage that? Nearly impossible to catch or kill. They are highly skilled in stealth and long range combat."

"Snipers?" Mark queried and the Officer nodded. "We didn't know they were here."

"They range all over." The Officer said with a frown. "But if they were not the ones who took your people, then there may be hope for your nest mates."

"I don't want to know, do I?" Mark asked, a sudden pit in his stomach.

"Reapers do not farm." The Officer sounded sick now and Mark froze, his eyes going wide. "Yes. There are few sources of protein out here. We lose a patrol here, a squad there and all we find are campfires with freshly butchered meat roasting over them. I don't need to say it, do I?"

"No." Mark swallowed. He had seen horrors in his life, but _that_? He was still human enough to feel revulsion. That was good according to his Nest Mother. She hadn't wanted her brood to lose their identity completely. She had hoped that Mark and his kind would serve as bridges for bringing humanity into the Elders' light. "Dangerous prey."

"The best kind of prey. Ones with teeth." Mark did not jump as the Chosen strode back up to him, Jack in tow. "This is most perplexing. There were transports going to and fro from the camp you liberated, but only one landed her with the jammer. It was gone long before this happened."

"Yes, sir." Mark had checked the datalogs too.

"That said..." The Chosen continued as if Mark's acknowledgment was inconsequential. "Those marks _do_ look like an Advent transport landed. And then there are _these_." He held up something small and Mark stared at it. It looked like a human rifle round casing, but not quite. Was it glowing softly green?

"Sorry I missed those, Lead." Jack stood rigidly as if expecting a blow.

"He has better eyes than we do, Scout." Mark replied evenly. He wasn't _about_ to blame Jack for not seeing as well as a _Chosen!_ Now, if he had _truly_ been sloppy? That was different. "What are those, sir?"

"Something very bad." The Chosen was scrutinizing the round and then paused as Rachel screamed.

" _Scan is showing power buildup!_ _Get rid of that!_ _They likely rigged them_ **all** _!_ " The team demo specialist was pawing through her pouches even as the Chosen tossed the small object into the woods. Mark's eyes went wide as it detonated with the force of a human frag grenade. Soft cracks came from all around and everyone stiffened as the pouch Rachel's fingers had just closed on detonated. She stood there, staring at where her hand had been, only tattered flesh remaining below her elbow.

Mark was at Rachel's side with Marina before the stricken demos specialist even moaned in pain. Mark helped Marina sit Rachel down. She had a hole in her armor, but it didn't seem to have reached her internal organs. Mark stepped back as the medic worked. He was not surprised to find the Chosen and the Advent officer at his side when he did.

"We need to find whoever did this." Mark said flatly. "And then we need to have a long talk with them."

"You don't want revenge?" The Chosen asked, eyes appraising.

"What I _want_ is immaterial." Mark replied, still fuming. "These people took our mother and have tech that I do not know. That makes them a threat to the Elder's plans and such will not be tolerated."

For a long moment, the Chosen Hunter just looked at him and then the blue skinned form smiled.

"To the Hunt then."


	4. Chapter 4

**Hurts**

It was very quiet in the Advent hospital. Mark appreciated the downtime after such a hectic day. He knew that no matter how well trained a being might be, cumulative stress added up. He had drawn more than few looks from the staff, but they left him alone. The waiting room was small and comfortable. It had couches, chairs and a small carpeted area where children could play with colored blocks that were provided. Several windows provided adequate light, but his thoughts were dark and troubled.

The team had been assigned quarters in an Advent barracks in the city center that they had been evacuated to. Most of them were there. They were filling out reports and basically trying to make sense of this whole mess. The whole purpose of their mission had been to collect humans and bring them in for relocation to safer places. Few of the humans who had been living out on the fringes appreciated it, but the team had gone to great lengths not to hurt anyone. It had only been the last camp where they hadn't had a choice but to use lethal force and even there, they hadn't killed all of the armed humans.

"Mark." Marina's voice pulled Mark out of his thoughts and he looked at the team medic. She looked awful, bloody and covered in dirt. He likely didn't look any better. He patted the couch beside him and she sat, sighing in relief. He knew the feeling. So long stressed and then such horror.

"What word?" Mark asked quietly. Marina leaned back, her eyes closing. He let her relax.

"Alina will make it." Marina said quietly. "Her wounds were very bad, but they pulled out all the stops. They even brought in a healer Priest."

"When the _Hunter_ said she was to be preserved, of course they did." Mark looked at the ceiling. It was immaculate like every Advent facility. "She is the only surviving witness to what happened."

"You saw what she wrote." Marina said quietly. Mark didn't move and she continued. "She heard a lot, but her pain garbled it. Even the Priest they brought in couldn't decipher much after she was hurt. That was apparently the first blast of the attack. She heard no shots though, so..." Marina made a face. "Some kind of silent weapon?"

"Must be." Mark grimaced. "And they really didn't want us recovering any of the tech."

Marina made a matching face. Every single piece that anyone had found had vaporized when the thing the Chosen had found had. They had pictures. Rachel in particular had taken several pictures of what she had found attached to Alina. Speaking of…

"Rachel?" Mark inquired.

"They say her arm and hand will be regenerated shortly. They want to keep her under observation until morning." Marina said quietly. "They had to bump some people out of the queue for the regeneration pod. She wasn't happy about that."

"This place serves the people." Mark said mildly. " _We_ serve the people. Of course she feels that way." He slumped a bit. "I am sorry about Ami, Marina."

"I don't think she suffered." Marina said in a tight voice. "That is something."

"Am I intruding?" A quiet voice had both humans looking at the door. An Advent Priest in white armor stood there. She wore no helmet in this secure facility, and her wide eyes were worried as she looked at Mark and Marina.

"Oh! Priest Milodi!" Marina started to get up but the priest waved her to stay seated.

"No, no." The Priest stepped in and shook her head as Mark tensed to rise. "You both have had a bad day. Sit. Rest. That is an order." She smiled and Mark relaxed a little. "Your teammate came through regeneration fine and Renas is pleased. Well..." She made a face. "As pleased as Renas _gets_."

Mark stared at her and then at Marina who shrugged.

"I took no offense." Marina closed her eyes, fatigue pouring out of her in waves. "She is not even _close_ to the rudest person I have dealt with." Priest Milodi stared at her and Marina smiled. "Our job angers people. We see the worst humanity can do. Sometimes we see the best, but… Not today." Her face fell again.

"Was it humans who attacked your team?" Milodi asked.

"We don't know." Mark admitted. "There is evidence for that, but there are also oddities and I don't know what I am cleared to say."

"Fair enough." Milodi stepped forward and then nodded. "You both need a bath." She smiled to take the sting out of her words.

"Yes, Ma'am. That is our next stop." Mark had no strength so smile back and… He stiffened. Something had changed. But what? The room was the same. The two females in it were the same. What had changed? Both women noted his sudden tension.

"Mark?" Marina asked, concern rising for her nest mate.

"I don't know." Mark said slowly, looking around. "I just… Something just changed and I have no idea what it is."

"Are you dizzy? Blurred vision?" Milodi was tense, her hand halfway to her communication gear.

"No." Mark replied absently. "Vision is clear. No dizziness. No impairment. I..."

He had no warning before he was suddenly elsewhere. No, _he_ wasn't.

She lay on a hard surface. She hurt in so many place. It hurt to breath, to see, to move. All she could do was lie on the floor and pant as the agony that surrounded her ebbed and faded. She blinked once, twice, her vision clearing. The white floor and ceiling hadn't changed. The odd glass that encircled her prison hadn't changed either, but now? The odd material that had slid down to cover it was rising again. She heard mechanical whirring from both sides, obviously the machines had done whatever they had been designed to do. She had no idea. She wasn't a tech. She had known as soon as the circular devices had extended from the ceiling that she was in trouble, but she hadn't been remotely prepared for _this_.

The agony had torn through every piece of her from the tip of her tail all the way to the top of her crest and every scale in between hurt. She couldn't even dream of resisting as the floor under her slid down and she was in another room. Human forms in odd bulky suits grabbed hold of her and lifted her onto what had to be a gurney. The straps they laid over her were so tight that they hurt even through the agony she was still feeling.

They all wore the X-Com badge.

She hadn't been able to fight and that shamed her. They had taken her by surprise and before she had known she was under attack, she had been hit with something that had jarred every voluntary muscle. Before she had even been fully aware of her situation, she had been bound and gagged. Then a hood had gone over her head and darkness had claimed her. She had woken here. Wherever _here_ was. She bet on human Hell.

"Isolate the head." A female voice in an accent that she did not know spoke and rough hands grabbed her head. Her jaw was pried open and something hard went into it. Then it was clamped closed again and something wrapped around it. "Move her to the table and strap her down."

She couldn't even scream as she was strapped face down to a hard surface. Her right arm was pulled out and held by at least two beings that she had no way to fight in her broken condition. Her neck protested, but it was abundantly clear that no one here cared about her pain. She knew she was dead. Were they going to dissect her alive? To her shock, the female voice turned kind?

"I know you are afraid. I know you hurt." The human sounded odd. Not angry. Not sad. Odd. "I will help you. I know your mind on a deep level now. My name is Moira and we are going to be good friends. You will help me with my work."

She scoffed. There was no chance she would serve a mad human. She _had_ a partner.

"Yes." The other said as whirring sounded nearby. "We know. We wanted to take a pair of you for study, not singles. Our luck was poor but _you_ will serve."

She stiffened. Was this human reading her mind? That wasn't possible, was it?

"Sleep now." The woman sounded almost apologetic. "When you wake, you will help us with the others. We will find your partner and bring him to you. You will both serve us. We will take Earth back, starting with you."

 _No!_ She screamed in her mind as something foul smelling sifted across her nostrils. She fought the straps as something stung her arm where is was held out to the side. She was floating as wetness rubbed the back of her head and an astringent smell came to her nostrils. Alcohol? What were they doing to her? Another sting and she was falling. She fought it, but whatever they gave her was strong.

She was falling into grasping darkness when she felt him. She _felt_ him! That wasn't possible, but she _did!_ He wasn't psionic! She couldn't feel his mind without physical contact, but _here?_ She did! If they took _him_ too? She _couldn't_ let them do this to him! Not _him!_

 _I LOVE YOU, MARK!_ Alley screamed and severed their connection just as the evil darkness finally took her.

The darkness was pulling _him_ in, grasping hold and holding onto him as he flailed, trying with all his might to grab hold of Alley's mind that he had felt. She was scared! She was hurting! They were doing something to her! Something evil!

 _No._ The voice that grabbed hold of him wasn't Alley's and he fought it for a moment. The sheer power that sounded through it was not to be denied however and Mark was crying as he recoiled back into his body.

" _Let! Me! Go!_ " Mark screamed at the hands that held him. The warm bodies around him shifted a little, but no one released him. " _ALLEY!"_

"We cannot." Priest Milodi's words were sad and sick. "You do not have the power to withstand whatever was just done to you."

"They are _hurting_ her!" Mark shouted, still trying to get free. "Evil! _Evil_ scum! I will kill them! I will kill them _all!_ "

"What would Mother want?" Marina's scared voice came from nearby.

Mark opened his eyes and went suddenly and completely still. He wasn't in the waiting room anymore. He was on the floor somewhere else. Somewhere with faded carpet. All the furniture had been pushed to the walls. His remaining nest mates minus Alina and Rachel lay on the floor around him, each having taken hold of his body. All still wore the filthy uniforms they had worn in the field. Marina held his head and from the look of Cable and Karina who held his arms? He had fought, hard, in whatever kind of state he had been in.

"What have I done?" Mark asked as his nest mates watched him warily. "Cable? Karina?" Both were bruised but smiled as he started to cry. "What have I _done?_ " Everyone hugged him.

It was the most basic rule. Nest mates did not harm one another. A certain amount of roughhousing or horseplay might be permitted, but actually _hurting_ one another was not. Mark had been trained in self defense from the moment he had been strong enough after his incident as a child. He knew exactly how dangerous he was in hand to hand combat. The punishment for such was ingrained in each of them and he would have to… He stiffened anew. Mother wasn't here to administer punishment. Who could? He was so tired.

"That wasn't you." Milodi's voice came from the side, but he was too spent to look. "Your partner has a very strong mind and she has cause for fear."

"She calms people." Mark protested. "That is _all_ she does. When they are scared or hurting, she calms them. Lets mother tend them. That is what she _does_."

"Psionic abilities are focused by the will of the being using them." Milodi said quietly as a hand touched his skull, patting it gently. "Just because it is all she chooses to do doesn't mean that is all she can do. We will debrief you. But tomorrow. For tonight? Rest."

"I have to..." Mark tried to get up, but his arms and legs felt like noodles. "I have to… _Alley_ … I have to _help_ her!"

"The entirety of Advent forces in this area are now focused on finding your nest mates." Milodi said sternly. " _You_ need to recover from the seizure you just had."

"I..." Mark was crying as the others held him. "She told me she loved me and then her voice cut out."

"I know." Milodi's voice was breaking. "I heard her. I didn't see what you saw, but from your reaction, I think I am glad of that."

"I need… I need to..." Mark tried to get up again, and his nest mates held him down easily.

"You need to _sleep_." Milodi said sternly and the word 'sleep' resonated inside his skull.

He was powerless to resist the Priest's psychic power and was asleep before he could form another protest.

* * *

Priest Milodi fought a sigh as Mark finally succumbed to her power and relaxed back into slumber.

"He should sleep until morning." Milodi told the medic of the team. "We will need to do a full workup and then we will need to debrief him on what he saw."

"Thank you for your help, Priest Milodi." Marina was hugging Mark as he slept. "This has not been a good day for any of us."

"If _any_ of you need to talk, I will be available." Milodi promised. "Myself or Sister Amadri will _always_ be available."

"Thank you." Marina said sadly. "But right now? We need to be a nest."

Milodi smiled at the human woman and then rose and strode from the room. The two guards outside nodded to her and her compatriot was waiting.

"No one disturbs them tonight." Milodi said in a tone of iron. Both of the soldiers nodded. " _No one._ They need rest more than anything else right now. So many shocks would destabilize anyone. But what happened to Operative Mark..." She bowed her head. "Evil. _Evil_ scum."

"How is he?" Priest Renas was not normally a kind person. She was darn good at what she did, but her bedside manner had been described charitably as 'harsh, acerbic even'. What she had seen today had shocked her just as badly as anyone else.

"I don't know. The seizure was prompted by his partner cutting some kind of connection." Milodi said sadly. Her own empathy was a two edged sword. It let her feel for her work, for those who she tried to help, but at the same time, feeling such hurts as these poor humans had taken… She had to fight to keep from crying and would until she fell asleep. "We need Hiloria for this. She has the deftest touch. She can see things that none of us would."

"And if she goes into a room filled with humans, how many of them will leave?" Renas asked, face scrunched up in a grimace. "Well, not in _pieces_?"

"They are not human." Milodi said weakly. "Not anymore. She won't see that though. She is my sister but she is damn aggravating at times."

"Wait until you have been around her more than a week." Renas said with a snort. Milodi had to admit that truth. She had only been assigned to the temple for a week. "She can push buttons like no one else in existence. She is very good at what she does, but she would not deal well with these."

"No." Milodi started for the hospital lobby and her sister followed her. "I need purification. Those poor souls… They know, Renas. They know what is coming." Renas stopped in mid-step and then continued to follow. "None of them have said, but they all know."

"There is talk of finding another pair or trying to bond them with new companions." Renas said softly. "We may be able to ease them long enough to find _some_ way..." She broke off as Milodi glared at her. She nodded, accepting the rebuke. If the _Elders_ couldn't fix this, then their Priests _certainly_ couldn't. "I like that girl Marina. She knows her stuff and isn't shy about speaking her mind. She is so sad though."

"Her partner was killed in the attack." Milodi sighed and Renas shook her head. "Do we have any records of how long it will take?"

"None that I could find on short notice." Renas smiled a bit grimly. "I asked Hiloria to look and see if there were more. If _anyone_ can find it..."

"...our _Librarian_ can." Milodi chorused with the healer.

"It just… I feel helpless, Milodi." Renas said sadly. "They are good people who had a bad job. They didn't deserve this."

"Deserve has nothing to do with it." For a moment, Milodi seemed far older and far more tired than her few short years. "We will do what we can. We will make their passing as easy as we can. We owe them that at the very least after what was done to them."

"Easer… That foul excuse for a medical professional died _far_ too quickly." Renas was hard and harsh, but she wasn't normally a vicious sort. Some things brought out the worst in everyone. Being betrayed by one of their own was never pleasant.

"That was eighteen years ago, Renas." Milodi sighed. "No one expected the kids to survive or thrive as they did. Certainly no one expected _this_."

"We have to _try_ , Milodi." Renas said sternly. "We _cannot_ just let them die."

"I know."

Both priests put on their helmets as they strode into he lobby to head back to the temple they called home.

No one saw the dark form watching from the vent. No one saw or heard the female in the gas mask scuttle towards the guarded room. If she had her way? No one would see her _period_.

Elena Dragunova call sign 'Outrider' knew full well the value of stealth.

It was what Reapers _did_.

* * *

 **Note for clarity: This fanfic starts about six months before the events of my other fanfic Choices**


	5. Chapter 5

**Family matters**

Mark woke to an odd sensation. His right elbow hurt. He stared down at it but was distracted when Marina patted his other arm.

"Good morning." Marina said with a smile when he looked at her. He didn't know this room.

"Where are we?" Mark didn't want to move. He was still so tired, but he was starting to itch. He really needed a shower or bath. He kept his voice down, but the others of his nest were light sleepers and roused anyway.

"The hospital intended this area as a daycare." Marina rolled up on her side, her arm holding her up at an angle. "But they haven't had enough kids come in to make it worthwhile keeping it open. When we needed a carpeted room, they offered even knowing they would need to clean it thoroughly. None of us had baths before you went down."

"How bad was I?" Mark asked.

"Bad." Marina sighed as Cable woke up with a soft sob. She stroked his arm and he relaxed. Mark laid a hand on the stricken sniper along with the others who were fully awake and he subsided. "It is going to get worse. All of us but Karina will feel the separation soon. She should… go. Be with Alina."

"I am _not_ leaving you!" Karina's tone brooked no argument. "Alina will say the same. We are a _nest!_ We stay _together_."

All of the unlikely siblings hugged one another. They were a serious mismatch and any time prior to the Elders coming? They likely wouldn't have been together anywhere except maybe in one of the more progressive cities in the United States. Jack was Middle Eastern, Mark was Caucasian, Marina Slavic, Cable had been born somewhere in Asia, Karina's parents had been from somewhere in the Pacific and then there was Rachel who was black from god only knew where. They were a very mixed bag and none of them cared in the slightest. Racial homogeneity had gone the way of the dodo when so many humans had perished at the Elders' coming. Being relocated to city centers had been rough for many humans, but it also had put paid to any hint of racial superiority.

Then there was this group. This nest.

They had come together through oddness and adversity. Their first memories had been of being test subjects for human experimentation. They hadn't been mistreated, far from it. But they hadn't had lives of their own either, until the being they called Mother had gone to the Elders and explained what was happening. The Elders had been _less_ _than pleased_ with what the being known as Easer had done to them and the clutch of immature Vipers who had been detailed to assist her. The official report stated that Easer had tried to flee arrest for illegal bio-engineering and been shot while trying to escape. The actual situation was a bit messier. She had locked herself in her lab and when the Advent forces had broken down the door, she had been dead. Whatever she had planned, the Vipers and human children had bonded far closer than anyone could have possibly imagined. The names that the children gave their playmates, classmates and companions were only the tip of the iceberg.

The humans and their Viper companions needed each other now on a _molecular_ level. Without close proximity for vital proteins to shift back and forth, Mark and all the others who had lost their companions were doomed to a slow wasting death. The Vipers would live past the human deaths, but then they too would wither and die. Some specialists had thought it was from grief, others from lack of companionship or some unknown compound that the Vipers absorbed from their partners. No one knew. The nest had seen it many times in Easer's lab before Mother had come with Advent soldiers and taken them away. They had seen it in the medical ward where they had been taken and so many people had tried to help them. Easer had taken 50 human children from various sources for her experiments. Now? There were _six_. Soon to be _none_ if Karina and Alina refused to leave. The wrong proteins would transfer and Karina would sicken just as the others did.

"Karina." Mark laid a hand on his stubborn sister's arm. "None of us are going to give up. You know that." He hugged her trembling body gently.

"We watched it happen so many times, Mark." Karina said softly as she hugged him tight enough to hurt. "Mother could only save us. I can't just leave you to your fates. I _can't_ and I know Alina will agree!"

"Oh, Karina." Marina hugged her sister a bit gentler than the girl was hugging Mark. The others just looked away. There really wasn't anything to say. It was her choice. They might disagree with her choice, but they had no right to deny it out of hand. Only their mother or the Elders could order her to do such and neither of those were here.

"I guess I should not be surprised a female nest mate is stubborn." Mark said with a grin. All three of the girls swatted at him as one and he raised hands in mock surrender. "Hey!"

"You are going to be poked and prodded today, Mark." Marina said quietly. "They will want to know what happened and why. You scared the hell out of all of us."

"I guess I should talk to you lot first." Mark started, only to pause as Karina shook her head.

"Shower first, _then_ food." Karina said flatly. " _Then_ scans. Then we check on Alina and Rachel. If they are awake, _then_ we talk. As a nest."

"Yeah." Mark sighed. "I really don't want to go over this more than once."

"I can't blame you."

* * *

An hour and a shower later

Mark did not react as the scan beams swept over him again. He had gone through this so many times that it was second nature to ignore the scans. So many doctors had tried to help him and the others. Some _had_ helped and Mark had nothing but gratitude for those. Others had simply been fascinated by the nest. They had been sure that the humans and Vipers would develop a hive consciousness or something. Mother had been less than thrilled with those.

He felt another pang of loss, but remained still until the scans ended.

"Your levels are good." The doctor nearby said softly as she perused his readings.

"It has only been a day." Mark replied. "Can I get up?"

"Yes. Nurse?" The doc nodded to the nurse who had been hovering nearby this whole time, but Mark smiled and sat up on his own. The poor woman seemed flummoxed as Mark slid off the table to grab his clothes. Many scans were interfered with by the tech built into Advent clothing so Mark and his nest mates had learned how to get in and out of it fast. "Do you enjoy shocking people?" The doctor asked quietly. It sounded an honest question, so Mark replied honestly.

"There is a certain level of amusement that I derive from such." Mark admitted as he slid his pants on. "I do not mean to offend. I hope I did not." He paused and looked at the nurse who shook her head with a smile. "I was taught early on that if there is choice between laughing and screaming, laughter is to be preferred."

"She gave you a sense of humor?" The doctor asked carefully. Mark knew who she was talking about even though the nurse looked confused.

"She encouraged us to find our own limits within the Elders' guidelines." Mark replied as he put his shirt on. "They never ordered us not to laugh."

"No." The doctor smiled. "They never did. You are in good health, but there are some oddities." She stared at her screen. "Did your mother take a blood sample yesterday?"

"No." Mark replied as he put on his shoes. "Those are done every week unless there is a problem. The next would be two days from now. Why?"

"Someone drew blood from you yesterday." The doctor said slowly. Mark stiffened and then finished sealing his shoes. "It wasn't any of our staff. The method was ancient. They used a _needle_ of all things and they were clumsy. It scraped a nerve in your arm." She nodded to his right arm. "You have pain in your elbow."

"I do." Mark flexed his arm. "Who could have…?" He shook his head. " _Anyone_ could have. I was seriously out of it yesterday."

"You had cause." The nurse came forward, a small bottle in her hands. "Your prescription."

"Will it help?" Mark asked the doctor who bowed her head.

"It can't _hurt_." The doctor said softly. "All of you will see protein imbalances in the near future. The supplements might give a bit more time." Mar looked at her and then at the nurse, whose face was pale. He took the bottle without a word. The doctor nodded. "I will keep going over these results. There are a lot of things I don't understand in them. I will have to consult. There has to be a way to fix this."

"Doctor." Mark said quietly. "The _Elders_ tried to fix us. They couldn't." At that, both the doctor and the nurse paled significantly. Mark shook his head. "For the time I have had, I am grateful. I have helped people. _We_ have helped people. I should have died twenty years ago. Either in the fighting or of the wounds I suffered. I am alive. I serve. This is all I ever asked."

"I..." The doctor seemed at a loss for words and the nurse one step from tears.

"You do good work, doctor, never doubt that." Mark reached out and patted the nurse on the arm. "Despite all of the bad, all of the horror, all of the loss, humanity will live on in the Elders' Light. I am afraid, but not for myself. My nest will suffer. The one pairing that has survived this debacle intact has refused to leave us."

"And that…?" The nurse was shaking her head, stunned by all this. "...means…?"

"It means that Karina and Alina will also become imbalanced." Mark said sadly. "I want to order them to leave. To get as far from us as they can. But I am not that cruel. We watched pairs taken from the ward we were in for years. Every time they became imbalanced, they left and didn't come back. Most of them were friends. I _am_ scared but I will not condemn Alina and Karina to life alone. We are a nest. We are unique. We stay together."

"Is there _nothing_ that can be done?" The nurse begged.

"Could they clone you and your companions?" The doctor asked softly.

"No." Mark sighed. "Mother tried once with the Elders' permission." He slumped a bit. "Mika and Ashio didn't live long. She understandably refused to ever try again."

"I am sorry." The doctor was trying to recover her equilibrium. The nurse was about to cry.

"So am I." Mark stepped up to the nurse and when she did not retreat, hugged her gently. "It is all right. Don't cry. We are mortal. We have our appointed time. When that time is up, it is up. One of our deepest, darkest fears was that we would hurt others with this whatever-the-hell-it-is inside our cells. Mother worked very hard, for a very long time to make sure we were no danger to others. We knew our time was short. That is why Mother proposed what she did. We can serve, so we must." He hugged the nurse again and she returned it gently. "We serve the Elders. Now and always."

"We serve." The nurse hugged him tight and then released him.

He smiled at her, nodded to the doctor and left the room. Her heard soft sobs start and then the doctor's voice consoling, but he did not stop. He strode through halls filled with patients and medical staff, few of whom gave him a second glance. He liked that. He didn't need pity. He needed to do what he could while he could. A door ahead had two Troopers standing guard outside it. He paused while they examined him with their HUDs. It was highly unlikely that anyone would ever be able to duplicate the DNA scrambling that Mark had undergone. That made identifying him very easy. They both nodded to him and he nodded back as the door opened. He stepped in and tensed as the scene in front of him registered.

"No!" Karina stood by a bed in which Alina lay, her hand on her partner's arm. The stricken Viper was still badly hurt, if not in danger of dying now. She would take some time to heal. "We are _not_ leaving."

"Be reasonable, Operative Karina." The man standing in front of her could have stepped right out of a dictionary definition for 'arrogance'. His Advent uniform looked like it had been _pressed!_ That made no sense at all. Advent uniforms were made of smart fabric that would take and hold any crease the user wished. One didn't need to _iron_ them. The sneer on his face did not help things. "You do not have a choice."

The rest of Mark's nest were gathered behind Karina and beside Alina's bed. Rachel looked a bit shaky, but her face was just as angry as everyone else's. His gaze swept the room. Three others stood by a wall, well out of the confrontation between the nest and this whoever he was. Priest Milodi's visible face was set in a grim line. The Sectoid beside her look embarrassed. He hadn't know they _could_ look embarrassed. The Muton _beside_ them though…

"Oshina!" Mark's surprised and pleased voice had everyone turning to look at him. The Muton bowed to him. "When did _you_ get back?"

"Two hours ago." The gravelly voice of the Muton who had once run security for the ward that Mark had grown up in hadn't changed at all in the eighteen years since. "I have failed you. I have failed my duty."

"No!" Mark stepped forward quickly and took the Muton's monumental right wrist in both hands. Even then, they did not close all the way around it. The massive being could break the hold any time, but he would not. "This was not your fault any more than it was ours. Whoever did this planned and executed the attack well. If you had been there, you would be dead." He gave the wrist a squeeze. "And I for one would miss you."

"This one would miss you too." Oshina laid his humongous left hand on Mark's.

Oshina had always been one of the few rocks of stability in Mark's world. Mother had been the same and with her gone? The Muton returning was a welcome sight. It would cause problems, but for now? Mark didn't care.

"If you are done _bonding…_ " The human said sourly. "Operative Karina and her companion need to leave."

"No." Mark looked at the Priest and the Sectoid even as the human sputtered. "I am ready to be debriefed."

"That is why we are here." Milodi said with a smile that faded as the human spoke again.

"She _cannot_ stay here." Mark felt a hand grab his shoulder and was not surprised at all when the Muton's massive hand grabbed and removed the other. Oshina had always taken his charges' safety _very_ seriously.

"Oshina." Mark said flatly and the Muton stopped whatever he had been about to do. Probably something messy. "He didn't hurt me."

"Let _go_ of me!" The official snapped, struggling had to get free. For all the good it would do against a Muton. Even a somewhat amused one.

"Are you _sure_ you want him to do that?" Mark inquired mildly. From Oshina's body language, the Muton was now trying hard not to laugh at all this. "I bet you will make a fairly substantial hole in the wall if he lets you go the way he wants to." The man stared at him and Mark shook his head. "Grabbing me that way was assault. He doesn't like it when people assault his protected. It makes him _grumpy_. You wouldn't _like_ him when he is _grumpy_."

Priest Milodi worked hard to swallow a laugh, but several of Mark's nest mates chuckled. Even the Sectoid looked amused.

A snort escaped Oshina's iron control and he growled. "You are just as bad as ever, Mark."

"Guilty as charged." Mark shrugged. "Please don't throw him. It would make such a mess and they would probably make us clean it up. Whoever you are? The answer is 'No'. We are a nest. She stays with us."

"She will _die!_ " The man was still fruitlessly trying to get his hand out of the Muton's grip.

"So better she die alone in a cell or a lab, poked and prodded? No. She is our family and she stays with us." Mark demanded, amusement fading. He shook his head and strode to where Karina stood, trembling in anger and amusement both. "Poking and prodding is what whoever had her was doing to Alley."

Just like that, the tone shifted. Everyone was still as Mark bowed his head.

"They hurt her. They were doing something more to her." The young man said heavily. "Surgery, I think. For a moment, I _was_ her. She knew I was there, somehow. She said she loved me."

No one moved as Milodi stepped forward. She opened her arms and Mark stepped into them, tears starting to fall. Then she smirked.

"Please don't hit me." She begged the Muton comically. More than one of the others laughed with her.

"Don't give me cause." The Muton replied with a grin in his voice as he released the human. It was pure coincidence that the release shoved the man face first into the closest wall. Of _course_ it was. "Mark..."

"I know." Mark said softly. "They waited until you were off on clan duty. They knew you were gone."

"What are you saying?" The man who still hadn't introduced himself was holding his nose as he rose to his feet a bit shaky. He was lucky. Oshina could have put him _through_ the metal wall fairly easily.

"I am saying we were set up."


	6. Chapter 6

**Darkness without, darkness within**

"What?"

Everyone said that except Oshina who moved to stand beside Karina, his huge form dwarfing hers as always. She was trembling as he held a hand out to her. Her own vanished into the Muton's massive fist but she did relax a little. As always.

"What do you mean?" The Advent human _still_ hadn't introduced himself so Mark ignored him to focus on the Priest and Sectoid.

"Can we do it here?" Mark asked quietly. "My nest needs to hear this. What I remember has bearing on all of us. I don't remember everything I saw. I was..." He shook his head. "I was a bit stressed."

"You have a right to that." Milodi hugged him again and released him. "I didn't hear much, but I could hear her love for you easily."

"Alley was the only one of us who ever tested positive for trainable levels of psionics." Marina said quietly. "We all knew how much she cared for you, Mark."

"You mean being a jealous, possessive pain in the butt of a snake." Mark corrected his nest mate grimly. No one seemed to know what to say to that. "Hey, it is the truth. Alley is a lot of things. Tolerant of others poaching in what she considered her territory is not one of them." He was careful to say 'is'. He had to keep hoping. "I am just glad she never actually hurt anyone with her anger."

"You know how much being shouted at hurt Ami, Mark." Marina corrected him just as grimly. "If she hadn't been the only psi in the entire group, Mother would have punished her a lot more."

"Oh, Mother did." Mark frowned in memory. All the others looked at him and he shook his head. "We didn't publicize what she did, because I was supposed to be Mother's second, but Alley never _did_ shout at anyone else, did she?"

"No. She didn't." Jack muttered thoughtfully. "What did she-" He paused and grimaced. "Do we want to know?"

"No, you don't. She made me do it." Mark said flatly and everyone -even the Advent creep- looked away. "What I don't understand is how I saw what I did. I am not psionic. Am I?" He asked Milodi who shook her head.

"You have the basis of psionics that all living things have. At the most basic level, everything is energy. Psionics is simply the study of using the living mind to manipulate that power." Milodi said with a small frown. The Sectoid nodded, silent. "You cannot tap into that power like psis can."

"I saw what Alley went through." Mark shivered a little and Milodi laid a hand on his arm. "She didn't think she would survive it. That is part of why she fixated so tightly on me. I helped her focus."

"We need to know what you saw, Mark." Milodi's hand twitched and he let her guide him to the floor where he saw and she did beside him. The Sectoid took his other side. "All of it."

Mark nodded and closed his eyes as inhuman fingers took hold of his head and warm energy spread across it. His memory flared and he could see everything that had happened.

"She is on a floor in a round cell. The walls were made of glass." Mark's voice trembled as he fought to control himself. He had to do this. He had to. For Alley's sake.

"She is hurting, in agony..."

* * *

Ten minutes later

No one was calm. All of the humans bar the Advent man, who still hadn't introduced himself, were crying. Priest Milodi was crying hard and Marina was hugging her gently. Oshina was holding Karina as she sobbed. He wasn't crying. Mark wasn't sure if Mutons could cry, but he knew Oshina's iron discipline wouldn't let the guard even if he wanted to. Even the Sectoid seemed shaken. He hadn't know _they_ could cry, but this one was.

"...and then I woke up on the floor." Mark said, licking his lips. His throat was very dry. Rachel held out a cup of water to him. He took a sip, careful not to move his head. "You said a seizure?"

"That is our best guess." Milodi was fighting for control and finally managed to stem her tears. "Well, one thing I can say right now. _You_ didn't do it. _She_ didn't do it. So that means someone _else_ did."

A growl came from the Muton as Karina hugged him tighter. He was careful not to move, he knew exactly how fragile Karina was, mentally and physically.

They said they wanted a pair." Mark mused. "They didn't get a full pair, so that means every one of us is in danger now except Cable and Marina."

"I would give anything be in danger with you guys." Marina said sadly. "To have Ami back." Cable nodded, silent.

"How did they take the camp by surprise?" Jack asked. "They fired off weapons to kill Ami and Ana, and set off explosives. The weapons, I can see being..." He paused. "What was the term? Quieted? No. Hushed? No. Silenced. _Silenced_ weapons."

"Suppressed." The Advent human spoke up and everyone looked at him. "Projectile weapons cannot be truly silenced without special ammunition because the bullets break the sound barrier as they fly. The discharge gasses can be suppressed to the point of the weapon being nearly silent and then special ammunition that does not break the sound barrier can be used. The loudest sound is apparently the bullet striking the target." He shrugged as everyone stared at him. "Hey, I studied up before coming in. I meant no offense." He said to Karina who shook her had savagely. "I can see why you want to stay. You are a family." He shook his head. "I doubt you got my name, Operative Mark. My name is Franklin. Agent third class Franklin."

"They want me too." Mark said softly. Milodi patted his arm. "That woman wanted me too. What I do not get is _why_. If X-Com _does_ exist still, then they _kill_ people like Alley. They would consider me a monster. Shoot me on sight too."

"You know there has been dissident activity ever since the Elders claimed this world." Agent Franklin frowned in thought. Everyone nodded. "I thought X-Com was relegated to the old world myself, but if they are coming back and this well organized… We have huge problems."

"No joke." Mark sighed and then looked at Milodi. The Sectoid had not released his head. "Is there anything more?"

"Adept Sarissorlia is looking for sights, smells, little things that might have escaped notice. It will take a few minutes." Milodi reassured him. "I have been recording and will make a full report."

"We may have an opportunity here." Mark said softly. "If they _do_ want me that badly-" He broke off as the room nearly exploded in a chorus of denials. He fought not to shake his head as every one of his nest mates glared at him.

"No, Operative Mark." Agent Franklin said quietly but firmly when the hubbub had died. "Whoever they were, X-Com or no, they were professionals. Such a trap would not be easy to plan or execute. If they get hold of you, you are not coming back. Not alive anyway."

"What have I got to lose, Agent?" Mark asked softly. He was stunned when the hands on his head shifted and the Sectoid hugged him. Milodi joined the embrace. "Wha-?" All of his nest who were mobile clustered around, touching him wherever they could. Even Oshina laid his huge fist on Mark's shoulder.

"Don't give up, Mark." Milodi said in husky voice. "Where there is life, there is hope. You are alive and apparently, so is she."

"I cannot just _sit_ here and _wait_." Mark said weakly. "I do not want to lose Marina and Cable."

"Life doesn't care what we want." Cable said quietly. Marina nodded. "Mark, Ami and Ana are gone. You know what will happen. You know when. You cannot stop it any more than we can."

"Cable..." Mark bowed his head. Whatever else he was going to say was cut off by Oshina's rumble.

"Alina wishes your attention." The Muton said and all eyes were pulled to where the Viper lay on the bed. She couldn't speak, her voice had been damaged along with much of the rest of her body by the impact with the tree. That didn't mean she couldn't communicate. She was tapping keys frantically and Karina moved to her bedside, the Muton shadowing her.

Everyone waited until she hit the 'transmit' key and a screen flared to life on one wall.

'I didn't hear much.' Alina wrote. 'I think I heard a hum or something. Then I was in the air and then it hurt. Priest Milodi and the gentle Sectoid have scanned my memory. What did you sense?' She asked Milodi who frowned.

"Not a lot." Milodi admitted after she was sure everyone had read the screen. "You were very badly hurt by the explosion and impact, Operative Alina. The pain in your memories is hard to get past." The Sectoid released Mark and rose. It walked toward the bed, hand outstretched to Alina who raised her own hand. It was trembling with the effort. "Be careful." The Priest warned.

The Sectoid nodded and took Alina's hand. Alina gasped, then smiled a little forlornly and relaxed.

"I can do little for the majority of your pain but I can dull it." The Sectoid's voice was odd. Almost effeminate? Not quite. "You are welcome, Operative. She wishes… a deep probe? No, Operative. That would harm you."

"Deeper?" Mark asked Milodi who shook her head. "I thought you went deep already."

"Surface memories are fairly easy to access if a person is not trained to resist or psionic themselves." Milodi replied. "The more recent, the easier it is to access them. After a day or so, it gets harder as the memories are buried by newer ones. You had no reason to resist, so we could go a bit deeper, but there are limits. The deeper we go into a mind, the easier it is to cause irreparable harm _to_ a mind. We can do it by accident and those of us who are sworn to heal refuse to go that deep if there are any other choices." The Sectoid nodded with her.

"Alina?" Mark asked the bedridden Viper. "Why do you want them to scan so deep?"

Alina looked at the Sectoid who shook its head. She started typing again. In moments, word appeared on the screen again.

'What I remember is not what I remember.' Alina typed. Mark stared at the words, uncomprehending. 'I remember two versions of the same event. That is wrong.'

Mark stared at Milodi whose visible face was furrowed by a frown. "Is that possible?"

"I would have said it was impossible." Milodi said slowly. "What do you remember, Alina?"

No one moved as Alina typed awkwardly. Then the Sectoid sat on the bed beside her, hand on the stricken Viper's bandaged head. Alina smiled at the bulbous headed form and then focused on her writing.

'I remember the jammer being delivered.' Alina wrote. 'I remember Ami and Ana sweeping it with scanners. I was focused on a com check and...' She gasped and power flared around the Sectoid's fingers.

"A block." The Sectoid sounded affronted by this development. "Someone put a telepathic block in your mind, Operative. That is not possible. Only _our_ people have the skill needed for such and none of our psis were anywhere near that area."

"Alley was." Mark hated himself for saying that, but it had to be said.

'Alley did not do this, Mark.' Alina wrote. 'I remember a hum. Then… A… A flash?' She wrote, looking confused.

"A blue flash of light." The Sectoid said slowly. "You turned to see and a bolt of energy clipped you as you turned. It hurt, but it did not disable you, perhaps not a clean hit." Alina looked terrified. Both Karina and Oshina took her hands in theirs. "You saw the one you call Alley fall and then rise, a plasma pistol in her hand. You were raising your own weapon when there was a brighter flash and you were flying. You hit the tree and lost consciousness for a moment."

'When I could see again, I could not hear anything.' Alina wrote. 'Nothing at all. No gunshots, no screams, no explosions. Nothing. I saw things happen, but I did not hear them.'

"Where did the flash come from?" Franklin asked, intent. Alina looked at the Sectoid whose face was taut with concentration.

"The jammer device was the only thing on that side of the camp." The Sectoid said after a moment of perusing Alina's memory.

"We checked that." Marina and Rachel protested in unison.

"Whoever these people are..." Franklin was thinking hard. "They are not amateurs. If they put some kind of auditory jammer or homing device in that thing, you might not have seen it. Especially if it was camouflaged to look like something else."

'This is wrong.' Alina wrote and everyone looked at her. 'I see them shooting Ami and Ana, but I _also_ see them taking them with the others. Pulling them into what looked like an Advent ship. I see them looking at me with weapons raised. I see one with something gleaming in its hand. A needle! It sticks me and hurts!' Her face held fear again and Karina gave her hand a squeeze. 'Why didn't they kill me?'

"Where? Where did it hurt?" Milodi demanded as she strode to the bedside. The Sectoid indicated an arm and Oshina made way for the Priest as she took Alina's limp arm in a gentle grip. She scrutinized the bandages on it carefully. Then she hissed as she pointed at one in particular. "Did they do a full scan of this injury?" She demanded of Marina.

Marina jerked and pulled up her e-pad. She perused it for a moment and then nodded. "Yes. That is a deep puncture wound. It went all the way to the bone and they were worried about deep infection. Why?"

"This was not done by an explosion or a tree branch." Milodi said sternly. She stroked Alina's arm as she laid it back down. "Someone took a bone marrow sample."

"A _DNA_ sample?" Mark was hardly the only one to gasp at that. "Why?"

"There is only one reason I can think of." Franklin said heavily. "To clone her. I will order the autopsies of your fallen to be expedited. If they did such for _all_ of you companions… I don't know why they would and that bothers me. It cannot be anything good."

'Why would they clone me?' Alina begged in writing. 'Yes, I need Karina and she needs me. But other than that? I am just a servant of the Elders. And now? I cannot even trust my own memory.' She was crying again. Karina and Milodi both soothed her.

"You will be able to, young one." The Sectoid promised. "We will come and restore your mind to you. You must sleep though that." It smiled at her. "You are quite welcome. But you have pushed yourself far too hard. Rest now. Dream of peace and light." Alina gave a soft sigh and fell asleep. Karina looked stricken, but the Sectoid patted her hand. "She will be fine, Operative. You may stay with her while we work, but it will be tomorrow at the earliest."

"Will it hurt her?" Karina begged.

"It may." The Sectoid allowed. "But leaving her with this mental butchery will hurt her worse." It made a 'come here' motion and Karina sidled close. It pulled her into hug and held her as she started to cry softly. Milodi smiled at the pair and then turned to the others, her visible face grave.

"We will need to determine if any of you have been tampered with." Milodi said flatly.

"Right." Mark rose from where he had been sitting and moved to the priest. "What do we do?"

"For now? Just rest." Milodi reassured him. "I need to make some calls, see about getting more security here."

"We can protect ourselves." Jack said sternly.

" _Without_ harming a horde of non-combatants?" Mark inquired before anyone else could speak. Jack flushed, but then shook his head, accepting the rebuke. "I want to shoot something too, Jack. But- Oh what _now?_ " He demanded as a chime sounded from the door. Then it opened and he felt ire rise. Who the hell could have gotten past the guards?

"Priest Milodi?" A harried looking doctor in Advent uniform shone in the open door. "We need you in Emergency."

"I am in the middle of something, Doctor Harris." Milodi said serenely, Mark envied her control, if not her psi powers. Seeing what Alley had gone through when hers had emerged turned him off _ever_ wanting such. "Can it wait?"

"Um… No." The Doctor looked at Mark and winced. "Five minutes ago, an ambulance backed up to the emergency arrivals door and no one entered. Security checked it and found no driver, no medics just two people in the back."

"That sounds odd, but fairly straightforward." Milodi didn't move. "Why would you need me?"

"They are both distraught. We cannot get them to move. You can calm them." The doctor was all but begging. "Security says they can stun them, but you know how badly that can go."

"Give me a few minutes and I can-" Milodi started, only to pause as Mark shook his head.

"Go." Mark shrugged as Milodi looked at him. "We are not going anywhere." He paused as the doctor stared at him, at Alina and Karina and then back at him. "What?"

"The patients are refusing to release each other." The doctor said slowly. "They are a young human male and a young Viper." Mark felt every ounce of breath leave him and he heard every member of his nest gasp as well. "We don't _think_ either is hurt, but both are terrified and refuse to talk to us."

"Priest Milodi..." Mark said weakly. A quick series of gestures told everyone else to fort up with Alina and Karina. Oshina scowled and strode to stand by Mark. Mark didn't even _try_ to argue. It wouldn't work.

"Let's go." Milodi shook her head and started off. "There are only twelve of you."

"That we _know_ of."


	7. Chapter 7

**Terrors**

The mismatched trio followed the doctor through the hospital in silence. All around them, humans and Advent worked, but Mark's mind was whirling as he followed Milodi. There were not any more of his kind. They hadn't _been_ any more of his kind since Mother had tried to clone Jack and Aroa. After that debacle, she had refused to try again and Mark didn't blame her in the slightest. Watching the newly created pair sicken and die had been the hardest thing he had done, but he and the others of his nest hadn't left their sides throughout the ordeal. He remembered Mika's final smile before she had slipped into her final coma. He shuddered.

"Mark?" Milodi asked, concern rising.

"If they are clones, they are going to need a lot of help and it probably won't be enough." Mark said quietly. The doctor ahead of them -Harris- looked back at him and Mark shook his head. "Cloning doesn't work with us. The proteins don't mesh properly."

"Oh." The doctor looked sick and Mark nodded.

"The _only_ good thing was that they didn't suffer long." Mark said sadly. Oshina patted his shoulder with a paw that could have flattened Mark easily.

"I don't know what these are." The doctor admitted. "We can't get decent scans while they are inside the ambulance. The boy hasn't woken. From what scans we got, he is injured. The Viper threatens anyone who tried to get close."

"Of course she does." Mark replied. "She is scared. Oshina can tell you all about that." The doctor looked at the hulking Muton who grunted. Mark smirked. "Or not."

"This is not a time for humor, Mark." Oshina said sternly.

"I actually wasn't joking." Mark admitted. "Or, not entirely. You _do_ know how temperamental young Vipers can be when their companions are threatened." Oshina sighed and nodded. "You will scare her. Troops will scare her. Doctors might or might not scare her. Priest Milodi..." He made a face. "You will probably scare her too."

"Why?" Milodi demanded, hurt in her tone.

"We didn't know what Priests were." Mark said sadly. "All we knew was that the one sole solid in our lives was gone. Our lives were horrible, but they were regular. Understandable. Then, Easer was gone. Mother tried, Oshina tried, others tried, but we could not trust. For years, none of us could trust." He looked at the floor. "If this kid is _anything_ like I was, if his companion is _anything_ like _Alley_ was, if you get too close, she _will_ strike. She will hate herself later but she _will_." He winced. "Alley bit Oshina twice."

"She is that scared?" Milodi winced as they approached a door lined with security troops, many of who had shock batons out and ready. An irate hiss sounded that was clear even from this distance. The Viper wasn't happy at _all_. "Oh dear."

"Yeah." Mark sighed. "She is _that_ scared. Oshina, _I_ need to do it." The Muton shook his head. He wasn't about to let Mark run into danger.

"We can gas them." Oshina was not happy about this.

"If the boy is hurt, gas may kill him." Mark argued reasonably. "Yell at me later, when two young lives are not on the line." Oshina's squeeze on his shoulder was warning, but the Muton _did_ let him go. "Doctor..." Mark began, but the doctor had anticipated him.

"This is Operative Mark." Doctor Harris said to the security troops, all of whom looked worried. Stood to reason, Vipers were _dangerous_ when threatened or cornered. "He will try to talk them down."

"I thought the Priest..." One of the troops started, but broke off when Milodi shook her head. Mark spoke before she could.

"She may not know what a Priest _is_." Mark said quietly. "I haven't heard of any others like myself, so wherever she came from, it likely wasn't a sanctioned experiment." _Everyone_ winced at that. The Elders had _no_ patience for some things. "Also, if she is as afraid as I fear, she may lash out at _anyone_ who comes close. Has she spit on anyone?"

Viper spit was no joke at all. Mark was partially immune, due to growing up with them and being around them so much, but even he could take a lethal dose if he wasn't careful. Hence Oshina's displeasure.

"She has tried." One of the troops said with a wince. "We retreated as soon as her crest flared. It missed us."

"Good. Let me see what I can do." Mark moved up to stand by the door. He could hear muted sobs through it. He tapped on the door and spoke aloud. "Hello? My name is Mark. What is yours?"

" _GO AWAY!_ " The hissed speech was so familiar it hurt. It was younger than any of Mark's nest, but it could have been any of them a few years previous. She was terrified and covering it with fury. So like so many of his nest mates that he felt a pang.

"I cannot do that." Mark kept his voice calm and level. "Your friend is hurt. This is a hospital. They can help him here."

"They won't!" The young Viper hissed."They will hurt him just like the others did! Jesse! Wake up! Please wake up!" She begged.

"Others?" Mark looked around but everyone's faces showed the same confusion. "The boy's name is Jesse? I won't hurt him." He jerked back as a spitting sound came and something sizzled against the door. It took no imagination to know what that was. Viper venom. At least it wasn't the _really_ nasty kind, she likely wasn't old enough to create the area effect toxin. Not that the _regular_ stuff wasn't bad enough if it connected with bare flesh.

" _THAT IS WHAT THEY SAID!_ " The other screamed. "They said they wouldn't hurt him and they did! Jesse, _please_ wake up!"

Everyone looked horrified, but Mark just shook his head. He had expected something like this. Something bad. When he spoke again it wasn't in a language that the Elders or their servants used. Indeed, it wasn't so much a language as intent formed into hisses. Oshina jerked, but did not move as Mark laid his hand on the door.

{Nest mates. You are nest mates.] A gasp came from beyond the door. [You understand this. It is bred into your bones. I will not harm you or your nest mate. I swear by my mates.]

For a moment, there was utter silence and then she replied in the same way. Hesitant, but clear. [You are not my nest.]

[No.] Mark replied honestly. [We thought we were alone. Are there more in your nest?]

[There were.] A torrent of sadness, rage and loss came in those short hisses. She didn't need to say any more.

[Oh, sister.] Mark was trying hard not to cry as he pushed the door open. Oshina grabbed at him, but Mark slid into the narrow vehicle beyond with ease and slapped the door shut despite the Muton's growl of annoyance. He would pay for that later, but for now? Mark had more important concerns. He took a step into the brightly lit vehicle despite the warning hiss from the Viper crouched protectively over the still human form laid out on a gurney. The human was wrapped in a blanket and Mark was pretty sure he was still breathing. If not? The Viper would have been far more agitated. [I am here to help, nest mate.]

[You are not my nest! Stay back!] The Viper warned.

[I will. I am not of your nest.] Mark found a corner to sit on and did. He placed himself lower than her intentionally and her expanded crest shrank, just a little. [But I know your fear. I know your heartbreak. I lost my own companion yesterday. We know not if she yet lives.]

[You have my sympathy.] The Viper said slowly and then coughed. She spit nastiness onto the floor, hacking a bit to get it all out. Mark wanted to go to her aid, but as scared as she was? That was not a good idea.

[Alley did that once.] Mark said in fond memory. [She held her spit in for almost an hour to keep from showing Mother that she had tried to hurt one of our nest mates. She burned her throat very badly. Mother was not happy. Did that hurt you?] Mark asked, worried.

[No.] The Viper relaxed a little more as his concern for her sank past her fear. [It stings a bit, but I am fine. Who are you?] She asked.

[As I said, my name is Mark.] The seated human replied. [There are doctors and security personnel outside. You frightened them.]

[I just want Jesse to wake up!] The Viper pleaded. [He won't wake up!]

[Then this hospital is probably the best place for him.] Mark said mildly. [They are listening and likely wondering if I need rescuing.] He switched to the Elder's common speech. " _Do_ I need rescuing?"

"Why would I hurt you?" The Viper asked sourly in the same language. "You haven't done anything to me or Jesse." The fond look she cast that unconscious human was heartbreakingly familiar.

"Are _you_ hurt?" Mark asked. The Viper relaxed completely and turned herself so Mark could see a deep gash in her scales. It was a good half meter long and was weeping! "Sister! What happened?" He wanted to rise, to run to her, to comfort her, but she was still so scared. Rapid movement likely wouldn't be a good idea.

"I don't know." The Viper said weakly. "I woke and he wasn't in the nest. I couldn't get out! I tried to stay awake! I really did. But I fell asleep and he was back, hurt like he is now! I tried to help him! I really did!"

"Easy." Mark held out a slow hand to the Viper who stared at it. "You didn't do that to him and he didn't do that to you. What happened to _you_?"

"I didn't hear anything." The Viper was crying and Mark wanted to comfort her so badly it hurt. "The wall blew in and part of it hit me. I didn't hear anything! You have to believe me! I didn't hear _anything_!"

"I believe you." Mark managed to say when she stopped for breath. She stiffened and stared at him, eyes huge. "The sole witness to what happened to _our_ nest said that explosions and gunshots happened in utter silence. Some kind of tech that no one has seen before."

"I thought I was going crazy. Or deaf." The Viper said in a very small voice. "I thought... I was … I..." She stammered, utterly undone. There was really only one thing to do.

"Come here." Mark said firmly, opening his arms. The Viper slid close slowly, almost timidly. He held his posture as she slid into his embrace and he gripped her trembling form gently. She wrapped around him as best she could, she wasn't very big. He was careful to keep his hands from the wound in her side. She lay her head on his shoulder and cried. "It is all alright. It will be all right. You will be all right." He crooned as she sobbed out her fear.

"What have I done? I could have hurt you. Or worse." She begged. "I was so scared. Jesse is the smart one. I am not smart."

"Stop right there." Mark chided the crying Viper gently. "You are a companion to a human. You have strengths, he has strengths. That doesn't make you better or worse than anyone else. Don't put yourself down. If you do that around _my_ nest mates..." He cringed dramatically. "It won't be pretty when they yank you back up." The Viper chuckled a bit wetly and Mark just held her for a moment. "We can help Jesse. We can help you. Will you let us?"

"It hurts." The Viper said weakly. "I can't give up. Jesse needs me. But it hurts."

"I cannot heal you or him." Mark said reasonably. "I am going to take you outside." She stiffened a little, but he hugged her again gently and she relaxed. "This is a hospital. This is where people go to be healed. There are a lot of people outside, some are angry, some are frightened."

"Of me?" The Viper asked, confused.

"You _did_ spit at them and at me." Mark said a bit sourly and the Viper cringed. He squeezed her again gently and she all but purred. "It is okay. Fear makes all of us do dumb stuff. Did Jesse give you a name?" She looked away and he nodded. [Nest secret. Don't speak it. I will call you Arisha. Is that fair?]

[I like that name.] The Viper said quietly. "Yes, you may call me Arisha. Thank you for understanding, nest brother Mark."

"What kind of a nest mate would I be if I didn't feel when a sister is frightened and in pain?" Mark asked sourly as he rose, careful not to jar the Viper in his hands. The newly named Arisha smiled at him as he pushed the ambulance door open with his free hand.

Arisha cringed hard as the door opened and several armored forms appeared beyond it. They moved aside as Mark stepped forward. All but one. Oshina was _not_ happy. The Muton's entire posture said that he would have a 'discussion' with Mark later. One Mark would not enjoy.

"Don't." Mark cautioned when the Muton moved to close the distance. "This is Arisha. She is injured and very scared." Oshina stopped short as Arisha buried her face in Mark's shoulder. Doctor Harris stepped up, medical gear in hand. "I better stay with her, but the boy needs help now."

"On it." Harris nodded to a pair of orderlies who entered the ambulance carefully. In less than a minute, they were pushing the gurney with the human on it out of the ambulance. Moments after that, doctors and nurses surrounded the gurney with only a few wary looks at Arisha. The doc whistled softly as he scanned Arisha's side. "That has to hurt. May I treat you, Operative Arisha?" He asked Arisha who nodded silently.

Mark held Arisha as the doctor worked. He could tell instantly when the pain faded. She relaxed in his arms. She was so exhausted she seemed one step from falling asleep.

"Don't move." Doctor Harris said gently as he worked. "The scales will need regeneration to close the wound fully, but I can do most of the treatment work here."

"You are so much nicer than the other doctor." Arisha was falling asleep in Mark's arms. Everyone stared at her, but then she gave a sigh and collapsed. Mark took firmer hold as the Viper's grip loosened in sleep.

" _Other_ doctor? Poor thing." Milodi said as she stepped up. "Her fear is..."

"Overpowering." Mark agreed. "If anyone else had tried to go in, she would have attacked them on pure instinct. I had to do it, Oshina."

"We will discuss that where fragile minds cannot be bothered." Oshina's tone promised pain. Mark nodded even as Milodi winced.

"Is that _really_ necessary?" Milodi asked.

"Yes." Mark and Oshina replied in unison. The Muton let Mark continue. "Discipline is the cornerstone of any successful organization. Be it business related, governmental or personal, discipline is what separates successful groups from unsuccessful ones. Even a business that fails can still be revived if the operators are disciplined and motivated enough to seek such. What I did had to be done, but I knew there would be a cost. And..." He looked at the Muton. "We need to talk about other breaches of discipline."

"Later." Oshina's tone was firm and clear. From the look in his eyes? He knew.

The doctor had ignored that byplay to finish his treatment. He nodded to Mark s he packed his gear up.

"We will need to schedule her a short stint in the regenerator." The doctor said with a frown as he turned to where the boy was being checked. "The wound won't hurt her now, but the sooner her skin is whole, the better." He shook his head. "What caused it?"

"She said pieces of a wall that blew in." Mark said quietly. "Silently." He added under his breath to Oshina and Milodi who both tensed.

"Poor dear is lucky to be alive." Milodi laid her hand on the sleeping Viper's head and smiled at whatever she felt from Arisha's slumbering mind.

"We will need to keep her and the boy close together. His name is Jesse." Mark held Arisha's limp form carefully as he moved a bit closer to the gurney. Everyone was clustered around it now, the security types obviously distressed by all this fuss and the medical staff intent on whatever they were doing. "She didn't mean to cause problems. She was terrified and protecting her nest mate."

"She didn't actually hurt anyone, so any disciplinary action will be mild." The doctor reassured him. "Now if only we knew who brought them here. Two underage hurt beings dropped off? This stinks."

"More than you know." Mark muttered as he cradled the sleeping Viper.

The doctor was called over to the gurney were everyone was working quickly but professionally. Mark eyed the group, but did not approach. He would just be in the way.

"I do not like coincidences." Oshina said after a moment. Milodi looked at him and he shook his head. "You all are attacked the day after I go to clan business and now? You are stuck here until Alina heals. Plus? Two new nest mates."

"Alina will heal quickly." Milodi offered. "We have authorization to use any and all resources to get her mobile again."

"If we bump sorely injured or terminally ill people out of the queue for aid, my nest mates will not be happy." Mark warned. "Rachel is already upset that she jumped the line for the regenerator."

"Let her argue with the Chosen who ordered it if she so wishes." Milodi shrugged. "It will be a short argument."

"A Chosen?" Oshina inquired, the Muton's visible face furrowing around his mask.

Whatever Mark or Milodi was going to say in response was tabled as a cry of dismay came from the gurney. All of them spun to it, but the boy was still breathing. One of the nurses was backing away from the gurney, a hand over her mouth.

"Who..." The nurse begged no one in particular. " _Who_ could do that to a young boy?"

Oshina stilled and Mark bowed his head. Milodi looked form one to the other.

"What is wrong?" The Priest asked.

"The boy was tortured." Mark said quietly. Everyone turned to stare at him. "And worse."

"How do you know that?" Doctor Harris asked, his gloved hands bloody from treating the boy's wounds. "You couldn't have seen that under the blanket he was covered in."

"I didn't need to." Mark said heavily. "Arisha here said he came back hurt sorely and she couldn't wake him. Does he have marks on his scalp?"

"How do you know _that_?" Harris sounded almost afraid to ask.

"Because there were always brain scanners attached during the second stage of confirming the bond between nest mates." Mark said softly. " _Also_ known as torture followed by brutalization."

"Exactly as they did to us."


	8. Chapter 8

**Healing**

For a long moment, no one moved. No one seemed to be breathing. Then Milodi stepped forward, her hand going to Mark's head.

"That monster did this to you." The Priest said softly. Mark nodded. "I am sorry, Operative Mark."

"That is why his mother broke her bonds of service and took her case directly to the Elders eighteen human years ago." Oshina laid a hand on the shoulder that did not have a Viper sleeping against it. "What was done to him and his siblings was horror made manifest. If it has been done _again_ , my honor demands I find who did it."

From his tone, no one had any doubt what would happen when or if the Muton did so. It would get _messy_.

"We will help." Mark said quietly, his hands still full of the slumbering Viper. He took a deep breath. "If they followed the same procedure, wounds will be all over his body. Mostly flesh wounds, but you will..." He broke off and Milodi stepped closer, her presence comforting as the horror of his past threatened to overwhelm him. He swallowed hard and focused, trying with all his might not to disturb the Viper. "Check his rear end, he may be bleeding. Internally."

Everyone stared at him in horror, but then a doctor started scanning the boy again.

"Mark." Oshina was at his side. "Turn away. Let them handle it. This is their job. You have another to care for. Turn _away_."

That was a command. The Muton took one arm and Milodi the other. They bodily turned him towards the door. He didn't bother fighting, he had no chance against the Muton's raw strength or the Priest's power. He just focused on not jarring Arisha.

"She has to stay close, Oshina!" Mark protested softly. "If it _was_ the second stage, she _has_ to stay in the same room for at least a day."

"But _you_ do not have to watch and listen." Oshina's tone brooked no argument. "Going through it once nearly drove you mad and Alley is not here now to buffer you this time. Step away. Let them do their jobs."

"I have to-" Mark complained, only to freeze when Arisha's sleepy voice sounded. Milodi and Oshina both released him as he stared at her.

"Mark?" Arisha didn't move, but her eyes were open. She sounded not -quite- awake. "Why are you angry? Did I make you mad?"

"No. It wasn't you, Arisha. I know what they did to Jesse." Mark said heavily, stroking the top of the Viper's head in a way that always soothed his own nest mates. She purred against his shoulder. "Others did the same to me, long ago."

"Oh. I am sorry." Arisha's eyes cleared a little and sympathy sang in them. "Is he…?" She broke off, unable to continue.

"He is alive." Mark reassured Arisha, still stroking, calming, soothing. "If we have _any_ say in the matter, he will stay that way." He promised her.

"Thank you." She said in a weak voice."Oh, that is nice." She purred louder as Mark stroked her closed crest a bit harder. Milodi smiled at wherever she felt from the Viper.

"Don't tell Alley I did this." Mark smiled at the sleepy Viper. "She is a bit on the possessive side."

"A bit more than a bit." Oshina said sourly. Arisha looked at him, but her half asleep state kept her from fear or shock, just as Mark had desired. "We will need to talk to you once you have rested, Arisha." Mark glared at the Muton, but the massive alien was unmoved.

"I am sorry I was so much trouble." Arisha said weakly. She was almost asleep again. "I didn't mean to be bad."

"You weren't. Back to sleep with you." Milodi laid a hand on the Viper's arm. Arisha gave a sigh and fell back asleep. "She wasn't." She said firmly to Oshina who nodded.

"No, she wasn't." Oshina agreed and Mark relaxed a little, but eyed the Muton. "Really, Mark. You _really_ think I would punish her for _that?_ "

"Rules are there for a reason." Mark continued to stroke the sleeping Viper's head even as her mouth fell open and she started to _snore!_ He groaned. "Aw, nuts. I hoped she wasn't a snorer."

Snoring in a nest was no fun at _all!_ The Muton looked decidedly amused even as Milodi chuckled.

"You _are_ holding her upright. That is _not_ a natural sleeping position." Doctor Harris' amused voice came from behind them. Mark started to turn, only to freeze as both Milodi and Oshina glared at him. The doctor moved around in front of them and nodded. He reached out to shift Arisha a little in Mark's arms and her breathing quieted. "The boy needs surgery but his wounds are not life threatening now." Mark was hardly the only one to sigh in relief at that. The doctor's face turned thunderous. "They did that to _you?_ "

"To all of us." Mark agreed sadly. "Male and female alike. It was intended to firm up the bonds between the companions. They were supposed to bond tighter with us to ease the pain. It worked."

"That it did. She also _lost_ a number of orderlies when she ordered them to hurt you again after the first time." Oshina said sourly. The doctor looked confused and the Muton shrugged. "Angry Vipers are not to be trifled with. An angry _mob_ of Vipers is something even a team of _my_ people takes _very_ seriously." Both Milodi and Mark nodded.

"Oh." The doctor swallowed hard. "And that is why _you_ had to go in."

"Yes." Mark sighed. "Anyone else couldn't have talked her down without harm to her or them."

"Mark, the doctor is right. This stinks." Oshina said sourly. "You are _all_ vulnerable here. We need to move you all to a secure location."

"I agree." Mark nodded. "But Alina and Jesse are both fragile at the moment." He looked at the doctor who frowned. "Can Jesse be moved?"

"His wounds are not life threatening, but he is very weak." The doctor cautioned. "If he goes into shock, you may not be able to revive him."

"I know." Mark said flatly enough that the doc went still. "And _yes_." He snapped.

The doctor swallowed his unspoken question and nodded. "We will need more security here."

"We have already disrupted your scheduled treatments." Mark said with a frown. "The rest of my nest will move to a more secure facility. That will leave Jesse, Arisha, Karina and Alina here with me." He paused as Oshina nodded slowly. "If we keep everyone in the same room, we can secure that. Good enough?"

"For now." Oshina was still not happy. "Your nest's safety is my duty, Mark. This one..."

"Her nest is gone." Mark said sternly. "We will take her and her companion in."

"Mark!" Oshina replied just as sternly. "You don't _know_ her."

"Don't _wake_ her!" Mark growled as Arisha muttered something in her sleep. Milodi shook her head and power flared around her hand that was still on the Viper. Arisha sighed and relaxed further. "Priest Milodi?"

"I put her into a very deep sleep." Milodi said with a nod. "She will sleep for some time and wake normally, but loud noises won't startle her awake. She needs the rest very badly." Mark smiled his gratitude to her but her next words had his smiled faltering. "I have to agree with your guardian and the doctor. This stinks. Why did they come _here_?"

"Because anywhere else, security forces would have stormed the ambulance and probably killed her or him. Same effect no matter which died." Mark said sadly. "Maybe this is a setup like our camp? But I find I don't care much." He stroked the slumbering Viper's head again. "She is so small and fragile, Oshina. Even if she _is_ bait for some kind of trap, I _cannot_ just leave her alone. You _know_ this."

"So did whoever set this up." Oshina was still sour, but he subsided when Arisha grumbled a little in her sleep and then coiled tighter around Mark, much to the human's dismay. As small as she was, she couldn't _hurt_ him, but the tail that went between his legs and then wrapped tight was _not_ comfortable. He carefully untangled her tail and then pulled it up and around himself. Both Milodi and the doctor looked away, fighting grins.

"You _really_ think she is some kind of villainous mastermind?" Mark asked as he settled the Viper around his hips almost like a human mother would a baby.

"No, I think she is a pawn designed to cloud your emotions." Oshina replied. "Which is exactly what she is doing."

"Probably." Mark sighed. "But does that change what I must do? Honorably?" Mark met the Muton's gaze levelly and it was _Oshina_ who looked away.

"No." Oshina admitted. "This will complicate things which were complicated already." He warned.

"True." Mark blew out a deep breath. "Let's get Jesse cared for, this one somewhere softer than my _hip_ and then we can see what else must be done. I will not quibble about security now." He gazed fondly at the slumbering Viper. "I have two very good reasons."

"Good."

* * *

An hour later

Mark fought hard not to sigh as the guards inside the door eyed him. Both were fully armed and armored Mutons and neither had spoken to him when he tried to start conversation. Or since.

"You _knew_ what he was going to do, Mark." Karina said with a grin from where she lay sandwiched between Alina and Arisha. She went back to her book when he did not rise to her bait.

The two Vipers hadn't woken from their imposed sleep, Arisha from the Priest's ministrations and Alina from drugs so they could move her into the regenerator. Both had instinctively wrapped around Karina as soon as she had slid in between them. Alina's wounds had been healed. She would be very weak for a bit from her ordeal, but she would recover quickly, given time and exercise.

For his part, Mark sat in a comfortable chair beside Jesse's bed, watching the boy breathe. Just a few tubes were still connected and those would come out by the end of the day. According to the docs, he wouldn't wake for at _least_ a day and even then, he would likely be weak and dazed for some time from the brutal abuse he had taken. From his own horrific experiences, Mark knew that to be true. Human body repairs were fairly easy with modern Advent tech. Convincing the untrained body to function as it had _after_ it had been repaired? Not so easy. Mark had done his own stints with physical therapists and he knew how hard it would be for the boy. Jesse looked like he might be twelve, just about the same age Mark had been. Mark doubted that was a coincidence. He looked so innocent and peaceful in sleep. Something else Mark was fighting hard not to doubt.

This whole thing _did_ stink. He could see feral humans or maybe the half mythical human X-Com troops attacking the camp if they found it, but it had been well hidden by professionals for that very reason. They had been working to gather the humans in the area in one place to be processed, chipped and then shipped off to Advent relocation centers. The whole idea had been to remain hidden, because everyone had known how the humans in the area would have reacted. That had been his thought, that some roving band of feral humans had stumbled across the camp, but the more he thought about that, the less plausible that idea seemed. Feral humans rarely had many firearms for one thing. For another? None of them had _ever_ shown _any_ tech like the stuff that had to have been used to take _Mother_ by surprise…

His thoughts did a sharp right turn.

Mother. His adopted mother was not always a nice being. She couldn't be since she was required to maintain discipline in her often unruly brood. What she _was_ , however, was incredibly strong, incredibly bright and incredibly _paranoid_. There was simply _no_ way that _anyone_ would have been able to take her so utterly by surprise. She would have had _some_ kind of plan even for such an overwhelming surprise attack. He jerked as his hand found a small pocket of his jumpsuit and the flash drive that lay there. They had all forgotten about it in all the fuss with Alina and then Jesse. Intentional? Maybe. He pulled it out of his pocket and looked at it.

"Mark?" Karina asked softly, staring at the drive. "Is that…?" He nodded.

"Yeah. This is the drive I found in the lab. I forgot all about it." Mark admitted a bit sheepishly.

"I would say we have _all_ been a bit stressed." Karina said with a smile. "I won't yell at you this time."

"Thanks." Mark groused with a grin that she shared. She did not go back to her book, curiosity coloring her features. He checked the drive and it was undamaged. Odd that. The machinery it had been connected to had been trashed. The more he thought about it, the less he thought that was a coincidence. So, it had been left. For him? She would have known he would search the lab even if it was completely engulfed. He wouldn't leave without at least checking to see if she was alive. She knew he wouldn't have delegated that. So…

He pulled his own pad out of another pocket and eyed it for a moment before slotting the drive into an external slot made for such things. It slid in with a click but nothing changed. He stared at it, confused.

"Whatever is on it should have activated automatically when plugged in." Mark said slowly as he started searching files manually.

"Unless it is encrypted or something. Want me to take a look?" Karina asked. "I may not be in Alina's class when it comes to hacking, but I picked up some things."

" _Few_ are in Alina's class when it comes to hacking and a darn good thing for security people _everywhere_." Mark said with a grunt as he found a new directory and clicked on it. What he saw made him sit up straight. "Odd. All the files are _hidden_?"

"What?" Karina carefully extricated herself from her entwined friends and slid off the bed despite their soft murmurs of unconscious loss. "Be right back, dears." She kissed Alina on the scaled cheek and then kissed Arisha the same way. Mark was smiling fondly as she rose and walked to his chair. "Let me see." Mark held up his screen to her and Karina perused it slowly, her eyes taking in every visible character. She slowly shook her head. "Well, it wasn't hacked. I see no sign of intrusion. The files were made this way. But that makes no sense. Like you say, all the files are hidden. We will have to go through each in turn."

She sat on the arm of his chair and looked at him expectantly. Mark favored her with an old fashioned look.

"Get your _own_ chair." Mark groaned. She ignored him, eyeing the screen. He shook his head. "Why do I put up with you?"

"Because Alley likes me." Karina's reply was so smooth that for a moment, Mark wasn't sure she was joking. Then her eyes twinkled and he groaned again.

"Be glad Oshina is running the transport." Mark said sourly. "He would drop you for push-ups for that joke and you know it."

"But you wouldn't report little old me to such a meanie, would you?" Karina was actually _batting her eyelashes_ at him. He gawked at her for a moment and then shook his head.

"You and your movies. I don't want to _know_ where you learned that." Mark said sourly and then clicked the first file. As soon as he did, music sounded from his pad and he hastily lowered the volume so as not to disturb the sleepers. "What? An audio file? That is not listed as an audio file."

"You know the tune as well as I do." Karina had paled and Mark reached out to pat her arm.

"I do." Mark sighed. "The main theme from Jurassic Park. That is one of Mother's favorite human tunes, but… Why _here_ as a hidden file? I expected a video log."

"Maybe it is one." Karina said slowly. Mark looked at her and she shook her head. "We both know how sneaky Mother is." She was careful to say 'is'. None of the kids would count their mother out until they saw a body and maybe not even _then_.

"Wouldn't that show up as a video file?" Mark asked, confused.

"Not necessarily." Karina frowned. "Alina knows a lot more about such things, but I learned a bit in dealing with coms." She paused. "You know? Alina said she was running a com check when the attack hit. Why would _she_ be running a com check? She is computers, not coms."

"Adika must have been busy." Mark said instantly. "Mother ordered Ami back to base along with Ana when she ordered us..." He slowed his speech as realization dawned. "...to...send..the jammer…there." His eyes met Karina's and she slowly nodded.

"All of the humans at the human camp." Karina said softly. "All of the Vipers _and_ Mother at base camp. Coincidence?"

" _Is_ there such a beast? Why would she send the jammer _there?_ " Mark asked softly. "We hadn't had any transports land there until then. If someone was _watching_..." He trailed off as Karina inhaled sharply.

"...she might as well have painted a bit red 'Enemy here' sign all over the camp." Karina said weakly. "She wouldn't _do_ that. She wouldn't have put the _girls_ in danger. She loved them. Us."

"That is true." Mark agreed. The he scoffed. "If she _didn't_ love us, she wouldn't have put up with _half_ of our shenanigans." Karina had to smile at that. It was so true.

"We need to look at the rest of the files." Karina said with a frown as Mark clicked the next one. Her eyes went large as the screen flared and then stabilized with a familiar image. Their mother looked out at them in all her pride and glory.

"Mark..." Their Mother said quietly. "Karina..." Karina and Mark stared at each other. How the hell could she have possibly known _Karina_ would be present? " _DUCK!_ "

Mark reacted without thinking, years of obedience to his mother throwing him out of the chair and into Karina, taking her to the floor as the door _and_ _the guards beside it_ vanished in an explosion.

A _silent_ explosion.


	9. Chapter 9

**Enemies**

Mark was taken just as much by surprise as the Mutons by the door had been. That said, he was no rookie and he had done a lot of work in places that had been considered extremely dangerous. His reflexes were well honed. Even before the debris of the door and guards hit the floor, he was on top of Karina and his Advent issue rail pistol was in hand. Hospital or no, none of his nest went _anywhere_ unarmed. He rolled off of her and she slid up, her own pistol in hand and aimed at the remnants of the door as two gray suited forms carrying human style rifles barreled into the room. Whoever these humans were, they were well trained. Each swept to a different side to clear the room as two more entered behind them, _their_ weapons trained on the beds. Those were not any weapon Mark recognized. The barrels were rectangular blocks of metal and each side was cut out in squares that glowed red. They each had something odd slung under the barrel. They were well armed and well drilled.

As well drilled as they were, none of them looked _down_. Oops.

Before any of them could rectify that mistake, Mark fired, his supersonic pistol rounds tearing through the trailing soldier on the right. There was no sound as the woman fell to lie in a heap. She wasn't going to get up from that. He saw the orange trails of Karina's pistol reach out and slam the trailing soldier on the other side even as that man tried to turn to face the threat. The two leaders had moved in and were clearing the far corners of the room Both apparently saw something or heard more than Mark could and spun to aim at the pair on the floor. But Mark was already in motion, diving to the side as Karina rolled the other way.

Then the soldier he had shot fired from the ground! Why wasn't she dead? Before he could even recoil, something blue-white hit him in the chest and he felt every muscle suddenly spasm. The pain was incredible, but Mark was no stranger to pain. He forced his way through it even as he saw Karina struck by a similar beam from the underslung weapon of _her_ target. She screamed silently and spun, her pistol flashing. The rounds slammed into her antagonist, ripping the gray jumpsuit away from some kind of armor. Odd armor. It was sleek and high tech looking. Far better than anything Advent boasted to shrug off multiple railgun rounds this close.

He was behind the chair as three beams hit Karina from three different angles and she fell to lie still.

"Bastards!" Mark tried to scream, but no sound was heard. These were the same enemies who had killed Ami and Ana, who had hurt Alina and Arisha! Who they were and where they had come from were questions for another time. All four of the soldiers were moving to flank his cover and he had nowhere to go.

There was really only one choice, but it apparently took all four of them by surprise when Mark barreled out of his cover to slam into the closest soldier. If they were smart, they would fire their stun weapons and take their chances hitting their ally. In that case, Mark had no chance but he was too angry to care. One of the soldiers spun to aim at the beds, but Mark ignored him to pummel the soldier he was grappling with. Whatever armor the man wore shed his punches like water off a hot roof, but then Mark managed to grab hold of a wrist and twist just right.

Armor always had a distinct problem. Unless it was made in solid slabs which were very hard to move in, there were always joints that were exposed and could be exploited. Armor designed for a human body was _always_ going to be vulnerable at certain spots if said armor was meant to be mobile at all. Ankle, knee, elbow, wrist, neck. Some might say that taking control of an opponent's wrist and twisting so that the bones and tendons locked up was unfair, but Mark had been trained by Oshina. The Muton had always believed that there was only one rule in hand to hand combat.

Win.

Mark had the man dancing on his toes as he spun behind the armored bulk. His pistol was swinging up to aim at one of the soldier's heads. That couldn't possibly as heavily armored as the rest of them. All three of the others had frozen and…

Agony tore into him again, this time from _behind!_ He was trying to move and he couldn't. His body wasn't reacting as it should. He was spinning, falling even as his opponent threw his grip off and dove to the side. He had a bare moment to see _Jesse_ sitting up, something in his right hand glowing white! Or _was_ that his hand? His face streaming tears as Mark's world turned black.

* * *

" _You didn't need to shoot him!_ " An unfamiliar young male voice was screaming as Mark swam back into consciousness. "He was _down,_ _you idiots_ _!_ "

Mark was about to vomit and there was nothing he could do about it. He was lying on his face on a hard surface that vibrated. Some kind of vehicle?

"Shut up, alien lover! He is alive." A cold, hard male voice sounded. "Back off!"

"Fuck you!" The other snarled right back. "If you touch him again, I will fry _you!_ Mark? Mark, talk to me!" The unknown voice begged. "Oh crap!" The voice exclaimed as Mark's stomach heaved. "Help me turn his head before he aspirates!"

Gloved hands were on Mark's head now, gentle hands. They turned his head to the side just as he expelled his meager stomach contents. He couldn't move. His left shoulder was a mass of fire, but his left arm was numb. That wasn't good.

"Mark!" The other was pleading as Mark felt movement. Someone was easing his limbs, straightening him out? They couldn't entirely. He was bound hand and foot. He couldn't see, but he could hear. But… Everything was going distant. What was happening? Was he dying? He didn't know. The pain was fading. Everything was as a hand grabbed his right hand and squeezed. "Oh no. Come on, Mark. I know you are mad. You have cause. There is reason! A good one! Come on, Mark. Stay with me, nest mate. Stay with _**us**_ , _dammit!_ "

Mark wasn't angry. He didn't hurt now. He was tired. So tired. He was…

 _No._ The word was soft, gentle even, but it was also all around Mark as let go and started to drift away. _No, Mark. You must stay, Alley needs you._ _We need you._

The words felt… yellow? Why did he think that? That was really weird. It made no sense. Something twisted inside Mark's head and he felt pain suddenly flare across his body. He tried to keep from groaning and could not.

"Oh, thank god!" The other declared. "You idiots could have killed every last one of us!" He snapped.

" _One_ more word, alien lover." The angry voice declared. " _One_ more word and I _will_ shoot you."

"Go ahead-" A hum sounded and the younger voice screamed in agony. Then it _laughed?_ "Oh, your boss is gonna be so happy with you. Poor little moron keeps pulling triggers when he shouldn't! You just don't _know_ any better!" Another hum and he screamed again.

"Stop!" A female voice snarled and the sound of metal striking metal came to Mark's ears. "Jackson, stop! If you _kill_ him, we lose them _both!_ "

"I don't take shit from aliens!" The other was obviously gritting his teeth.

"You could have killed us _all_ , Jackson! Stand down. Now!" The female said sternly. Then her voice moderated. "How is he, Jesse?"

Jesse? Arisha's companion? Wait… Mark's memory flooded in. Jesse had shot him from behind! Or something. What the hell? The boy hadn't been armed. Had he?

"He is stable for now, Lieutenant. We nearly lost him." The boy's voice was subdued now. "Dammit, it wasn't supposed to be this way!"

"Battles rarely go as planned." The other said softly. "Jackson is an ass, but the man _did_ nearly break Jules' arm. If he had managed to get mobile again long enough for his companion to recover her wits, they might have been able to take us all. We _had_ to stop him."

"And as soon as he went down, Jackson shot him. That fool could have killed us _all_ with that shot." Jesse snarled. "Four centimeters to the right and he _would_ have killed us all. Your armor is good, but you of all people know what it is _not_ proof against."

"Yeah, I do." The other replied. "The boss will talk to Jackson, but please… try not to antagonize him?"

"If he slaps my companion again, I will kill him or die trying." Jesse sounded far older than he was. "These didn't have to be nice to her. They could have locked her up, tossed her to Advent interrogation. That is what they _should_ have done. They _didn't._ "

"She was right." The one called Lieutenant seemed subdued. "They act human. You act human."

"Don't _insult_ me." Jesse said flatly. " _I_ am not human. I am not a murderous sociopath. My weapon can only _stun_ , not burn through the bodies of people who _cannot fight back_." Mark had to admit the boy's spirit, if not his sense if he was surrounded by armed humans. The boy took a deep breath, obviously trying to calm down. When he spoke again, it was quieter. "What is our ETA?"

"We need to take a roundabout route." The other replied. "The entire Advent security grid in this city center is looking for us."

"Ya _think?_ " Jesse snarked. "You did just blow hole in a hospital and kill five guards while absconding with several patients."

"Five _aliens_." The Lieutenant corrected him coldly.

"Well, then, feel free to kill all the aliens in here, since that is all you seem to know how to do." Jesse snapped, ire rising again. "Then if you are _lucky_ , Advent will _nuke_ this city center with you _in_ _it_."

What the hell? Mark felt his guts clench in a way that had nothing to do with nausea. It wasn't a secret that Advent had nuclear weapons. They had confiscated every remaining nuclear warhead after the conquest of Earth. A couple of Earth governments had used such weapons in the horrors of the war, but Elders had never retaliated in kind. They had never had to. They had outclassed Earth's military forces so completely that even with nukes, none of them had a chance. Advent was a peacekeeping force, not an army of conquest. Why would _Advent_ use _nukes?_ That made no sense at all!

"See what you can do for him." The Lieutenant sounded subdued. "We are about an hour out."

"I am not a medic." Jesse said sourly but then his voice softened. "But I owe him for what he did for A-1747. This whole thing was stupid. Ever since we had to alter the plan, it has all gone to hell."

"No plan survives contact with the enemy. For now, though?" The Lieutenant sounded firm again. "We are allies. Neither of us want an outbreak."

 _Outbreak?_ Mark thought, confused _As in a_ disease _? What are they talking about?_

"You may not, I may not. Our superiors may not." Jesse said softly as gentle hands stroked Mark's taut muscles, trying to soothe him. It didn't help much. "But you know there are a _lot_ of people on _all_ sides who just want blood. They won't discriminate about _whose_."

"I know." The Lieutenant replied and then boots clomped on metal. Jesse sighed deeply and when he spoke, it was softer.

"I know you are awake, Mark. You won't be able to talk. You are bound and blindfolded. Even then, there are two goons with guns aimed at you. You scared the _hell_ out of them," Jesse chuckled, but then his voice turned sad. "I am sorry. I had to stop you before any of these testosterone fueled idiots killed you. Mother was right. You are a bad ass. If I hadn't stunned you, you might very _well_ have taken them _all_."

Mother? Mark couldn't even stiffen, he was bound so tightly. This boy knew Mark's Mother? How? Why? When? He couldn't move his mouth when he tried and the other gave his hand a twitch.

"You are a mess, Mark." Jesse said sadly. "The others are all alive, but sedated. You… If we sedate you, you won't wake up." He made noise of disgust. "Much as some might prefer such, I know better. If you die, Alley dies. We need both of you. And… You helped my nest mate." He was crying. "I couldn't help her. I was out of it from the time the Advent troops dragged me away from her until the soldiers blew the door. I don't know what you did, but thank you. She is sleeping far better than she has since… Since we joined."

 _Advent? What?_ Mark couldn't have heard that right. Had he been hit in the head? Then he tensed. This boy knew Alley? _HOW?_

"I can't release you or tend your wounds." Jesse sighed deeply. "They won't let me. All I can do is be here." Then he gasped and sounds of a struggle came from nearby.. " _No!_ A-1747! No, don't struggle! No!" He begged. "Don't hurt her!"

"It moves, it dies." The one called Jackson said with glee.

"Fine." Jesse was suddenly calm. "You fire and _you_ die." A hum sounded close to Mark's head. What was _that_? He had never heard anything quite like it. "We need her. We don't need _you_."

"Jackson." The one called Lieutenant said slowly. "Stand down. We have our orders."

"Its an alien!" Jackson protested.

"It is an alien that you are forbidden to harm." The Lieutenant said with a grunt. "Sergeant, please relieve Private Jackson of his weapons. _All_ of them." Jackson started to curse as the sounds of another struggle came. "Agent Jesse, please keep your companion secure. My men are very twitchy so far into an Advent city center."

"I need to talk to her." Jesse replied. "I can keep her from spitting."

"If she _does_ spit in here, we will have no choice but to shoot her." The Lieutenant sounded as if she were trying hard to be reasonable. "Per our orders, we will try not to kill her."

"For whatever the hell that is worth." Jesse said in a low tone as something was dragged across the floor near Mark. "A-1747? Please. Don't struggle. I can't unbind your eyes, but I can release your mouth, if you promise not to spit. If you do, you will probably hit _me_."

"Jesse?" Arisha's stunned voice held shock and rage mixed. "What have you _done?_ Why can't I _see?_ "

"I bound your eyes so you wouldn't be able to flee or fight." Jesse said softly. "I… I knew it was going to be bad. I didn't want to hide it from you, but I didn't know if they could read your mind."

"Hide what?" Arisha demanded, her tone suddenly flat. "What have you _done_? I..." She broke off and a loud sniff sounded. Then she hissed softly, incredulous. "Mark? I smell Mark close by. Why I smell _Mark's_ _blood?_ " She demanded of Jesse.

"Because he is badly hurt." Jesse said quietly. "Things did not go as planned. You were not supposed to wake up. You certainly were not supposed to keep the medical staff out of the ambulance."

"You _planned_ _ **that?**_ " Arisha's voice was heading quickly into shrill range.

"I didn't plan what they did to me." Jesse made soft noise of pain and regret. "But you needed to be innocent in what we were going to do. You are better than me, you always have been, you always will be."

"You lied to me?" Arisha's voice was now a combination of anger, sorrow and disbelief

"I didn't tell you when I was contacted by someone who said she would help." Jesse said softly. "She warned me that Advent might be able to read information right out of your mind. I couldn't tell you." He pleaded.

"And what does that have to do with _Mark?_ " A warm mass was beside Mark now and he felt scales sliding closer. Arisha was trying to comfort him as best she could.

"It has _everything_ to do with him _and_ his nest, A-1747." Jesse said quietly. "The whole _plan_ was to try and extract him and his nest, preferably without harming anyone. The plan failed and we have had to try various other plans. Things got messy even before Advent took me to hurt me."

"You knew there were other nests." Arisha's tone was pure hurt now. "And you didn't _tell me?_ "

"I couldn't." Jesse sighed. "If they even _suspected_ what I knew, that I was trying to play another game, they would have killed you _and_ me."

"So instead, you let them hurt you." Arisha said with a growl.

"There was no 'let', A-1747." Jesse said sadly. "I didn't even realize what they were going to do until they started. After that? I wasn't lucid until… Well, a team came to extract Mark's nest, me and you."

"A team of what?" Arisha demanded. "Humans? _Armed humans?_ "

"Yes." Jesse sounded subdued now. "The enemy of my enemy is my ally, A-1747."

"The enemy of my enemy is my _enemy's enemy_ , no more, no less!" Arisha snapped. Mark bit back a snicker. _She_ had read Schlock Mercenary? What were the odds? "How the hell can you _trust_ them?"

"Because I had exactly _zero_ choice unless I wanted a whole bunch of innocent people to die." Jesse said softly. "I need you to sing for Mark. Let him sleep."

"Why?" Arisha asked, suspicious.

"Because if _we_ sedate him, we will kill him and that is the _last_ thing _anyone_ wants. It will be a long trip, especially with trigger happy goons eyeing him the whole way. You can ease him, let him sleep comfortably. Please?" Jesse begged. "If he fights, they will hurt him. Maybe kill him. He scared them."

"He scared _me_ and he wasn't even trying. He didn't even press me for my name." Arisha said softly as something nudged Mark's chest. It felt familiar. "He took me in, gave me a name just for his nest."

"What name?" Jesse asked.

"Arisha." The Viper sounded abject now. "I… Jesse..."

"Arisha? That is a nice name. Arisha." Jesse rolled the name around on his tongue for a moment. "I like it. Do you?"

"I do." Arisha sighed deeply and then something incredible happened. Something came from her that Mark had no words for. It was singing, but so much more. It wasn't just in his ears, it was in his _mind_ too. It was warmth. It was joy. It was love. It was fear and hate and anger and rage and hope and faith and...

Mark was still trying to catalog it all when he fell asleep.


	10. Chapter 10

**Mutually assured destruction**

Mark woke up slowly, aware of a warm breathing mass on his left side. He was lying a bed, covered by a blanket. The pillow under his head felt odd. Not hard, not soft, just oddly supportive. He didn't hurt now. That was good. He wasn't restrained, that was better. He cracked his eyes and the mass was _his_ _Viper_ _companion Alley!_ Even _better!_ He tried his left hand and the fingers moved. Also good. He slid it up to scratch Alley's orange and white head where she always enjoyed it and did not miss a new scar on the back of her head. Not so good. He scratched her head gently and she murmured in her sleep but did not wake.

He was not surprised when a voice spoke up from nearby. He was also not surprised _by_ the voice.

"I am sorry, Mark." Mark's eyes slid to a seated form nearby and yes, it was his Mother. She looked okay, if sad and stressed. His eyes flicked around but there wasn't anyone else in the small room. She sighed and nodded. "We are alone for the moment. I needed to explain."

"You are working with X-Com." Mark fought hard to keep his voice low. Alley had been crying. No matter what, he didn't want to wake her. Not after this. She was tough strong and capable, but she was also fragile in so many ways. He knew her flaws all and loved them all. Well, _most_ of them.

"Yes." The Matriarch he had known for most of his life said simply.

"Why?" Mark looked around furtively again, but there was no more furniture he could see. No machinery. No medical gear, no nothing. He felt deep twinges now. More remembered aches than actual pain. His left shoulder, his neck, his back, his head.

"This room was set up for recovery." Mother hadn't missed his scrutiny. Not that she ever missed much. "We knew everyone was going to be a bit stressed when they woke and we didn't want anything breakable or expensive in here."

"Can you blame us?" Mark asked, looking at Alley's head. He gave her another scratch and she smiled in her sleep, cuddling closer to him as he wrapped his right arm around her.

"Not at all." Mother said sadly. "You have been loyal. You have been brave, loyal and obedient to the point of near death on several occasions. I lied to you. Everyone has lied to you but my lies cut deepest."

"You set up the attack on the camp." Mark said slowly. Mother nodded. "I don't understand. If you were trying to defect or something, why kill the humans?"

"I didn't defect." Mother replied. "I regret the loss of life, but as soon as Adika came in with the readouts, I knew you and other humans _couldn't_ come back to the camp until it was sterilized. I had to act fast. I had laid plans, but they didn't work out as we had planned. Alina was in the wrong place at the wrong time. She was hurt so badly in that explosion that she wouldn't have survived to flee. _Advent_ had to heal her or Kalina would have died. If that had happened… Bad doesn't begin to cover it."

"What would possibly frighten _you_ so badly that…?" Mark broke off as he remembered Jesse's words in transit. "Jesse said the word 'outbreak'. A disease?"

"A manufactured one." Mother said quietly. "A biological weapon. Infectious within seconds, deadly within minutes at high concentrations, persistent for a year even after death of the host, highly contagious and very hard to remove from a subject without a specialized and hard to manufacture counter agent."

"My god." Mark felt every fiber of his being recoil in horror. Such a thing was the ultimate terror weapon. Invisible and probably designed to be unstoppable. No _wonder_ Jesse had said Advent might nuke an area. For _some_ things, there truly was no overkill. "Were _we_ exposed?" Mark asked quickly. Mother shook her head and he relaxed. "But… I don't understand. We had protocols for such things."

Advent drilled incessantly for all kinds of attacks, including biological. For all the good such might actually do.

"It wasn't an attack on _us_ , Mark. The humans in the area were the targets and they were all exposed." Mother was still quiet. "That girl in the lab. You didn't know her." That wasn't a question, but she was asking something.

"No. I sort of recognized her from the sweeps." Mark said slowly. "She had been shot at close range."

"Her name was Francine. Everyone called her Fran. I had no choice." Mother said sadly. "As soon as I saw her protein readings, I knew what they had done. I was gentle. I calmed her the best I could before I ended her pain. She was distraught as soon as she woke in my care, crying for her Alis. I did what I had to do. I made it quick, painless and certain. They killed her companion, she wasn't going to survive that and that was their plan." Mark was almost beyond horror to someplace worse now and she nodded. "I haven't told Jesse about them yet. I haven't had the guts." Coming from _her?_ That was saying something. "We lost so many. _Too_ many. He saw the same things happen to his nest. She was the last besides Jesse. He said he still hopes she is alive but in his heart, he knows she isn't. He will understand, I know he will, but it hurts, Mark. She was _such_ a good kid. Bright, bubbly, cheerful even when hurting."

Tears were falling softly now. His mother was not normally so emotional, but these were not normal settings. It was all _Mark_ could do not to cry at how _Arisha_ would react to this news.

"You _knew_ them." Mark fought hard to keep his tone level. Alley was still asleep. Odd. She had always been a light sleeper.

"I did." Mother said quietly. "I took Alley with me six months ago, you remember?" Mark nodded. It had been some kind of hush-hush Advent thing. The team had been just back from a deployment and Alley had gone off with Mother to do something. They had been told that she wouldn't be able to talk about it so no one had asked. "Me because of who I am and Alley because she is psionic. They took us to a facility buried in a mountainside. There I found them. Alley did what she could to help as did I. It wasn't _enough_. We couldn't stay long, they just wanted simple advice on how to handle them." Her voice broke for a moment. " _Simple_." She said bitterly. " _Nothing_ about this whole _mess_ is _simple_. They had already lost four of the ten they started with. Two pairs. Another pair died while we were there and I made up my mind in that instant. I _had_ to get you out and as many of _them_ as I could."

"Oh, god Mother." Mark said weakly. "But… Why? Why would Advent _kill_ them?"

"It ties into your nest's origin, Mark." Mother took a deep breath and continued. "I didn't want to lie to you, but I didn't have a choice. When I went to the Elders to complain about the treatment of you that I thought was Easer's, I found out the truth. They said they would kill you all along with the entirety of my clan if I ever dared to tell you the truth. Now? You are free of their threats and I can."

"Truth?" Mark asked slowly, sure he was not going to like this.

"Truth. Easer was brought in to make you all fit into human _and_ Elder society." Mother nodded. "She focused on the brain. That was her specialty and she was very good at it. My clan ran security for her as you know." Mark nodded, none of that was new. "What you _don't_ know is that there was _another_ team involved. Not Easer's people. None of _them_ survived your companions' wrath after they hurt you all." Mark stared at her, nonplussed and Mother held up a hand. "Please, let me finish?"

Mark nodded and settled himself, cradling Alley as she sighed and snuggled closer. Was she drugged? Again, his mother was sharp eyed.

"We had to sedate her fairly heavily after she woke from her surgery and I explained. She should wake up again soon. She resisted far more strongly than anyone expected." Mother said sadly as she laid a hand on Alley's flank. "Part of it was her love for you. Part was her distrust of humans. Part was the fact that I couldn't tell _anyone_ what was going to happen until the jammer was in place and the Elders' scrutiny on us faltered."

"Or the Elders might have found out." Mark was reeling, but he soothed himself by rubbing Alley's scalp.

"And if they had? _E_ _veryone_ would have died." Mother agreed. "I hoped to have time to warn everyone, but the assault and sterilization team moved fast when I sent the word. I didn't get the chance to warn Alley. She opened fire as soon as they arrived and they returned it. They only stunned her and the others, but Alina was caught in a secondary explosion and tossed into that tree where she was impaled.." She slumped a bit. "We couldn't get her loose. Even if we had? She was too badly hurt to move. We had to leave her behind."

"The bioweapon?" Mark asked softly.

"Neutralized." Mother reassured him. "I gave X-Com the counter for it. That was the deal. They save my kids, I keep them from being infected and impart knowledge of how to stop one of the Elder's secret weapons."

"How did _you_ have the neutralization agent?" Mark asked, still confused.

"Because I had to have it." Mother said sadly. "The risk of accidental release was far too high but the Elders refused to take other steps. Easer knew they wouldn't." She looked away. "I wouldn't give up what I have seen with you lot for all of the money in the universe, but man, I hate her for dumping this on me sometimes."

"Dumping?" Mark said slowly. "You killed her." Mother nodded. "But..." He trailed off.

"I killed Easer because she defied the Elders openly and blatantly when she refused to work on you any more." Mother said sadly. "She had been making you into servants of the people and then she realized _she_ had been lied to. She wasn't making bridges between peoples, she was making sleeper agents and she refused to continue."

"Sleeper agents." Mark hugged Alley gently and she murmured a bit. She was waking up.

"The idea was simple. The actual implementation was anything but simple." Mother patted Alley's flank as the Viper opened her eyes and yawned hugely. "The Vipers provide psionic links to convey the Elders' orders and are capable of hiding in places that no one would look for them. Like toilets." Her tone was dry and Alley winced.

"I apologized for that, Mother." Alley said quickly. She hugged Mark and nuzzled his neck gently. "Is it done?" She begged the other female.

"It is." Mother reassured the Viper who slumped in relief. "You are both free. All of you are free."

"Free of what?" Mark all but pleaded and Alley hugged him tighter.

"Free of the Elders' evil." Alley said sadly. "I couldn't say anything. I wanted to. I so wanted to. But I couldn't. She bowed her hand and then gave a squeak as Mark tickled her in a sensitive spot. " _Mark!_ " She exclaimed with an embarrassed hiss, then she swatted at him and he returned the favor.

"Children." Mother smiled indulgently as the two companions play fought each other for a second. "We need to tell him, Alley. Do you want to?"

"Not really but he needs to know."Alley sighed deeply and laid her head against Mark's chest. "You know you are not human anymore, Mark." Mark nodded, mystified at this sudden change. "You were genetically modified while your wounds were healed. You have organs that humans do not. Implanted, grown, same thing. Most are beneficent. An extra heart, secondary kidneys, that kind of thing. One was _not_ benign."

"Wait..." Mark felt faint as Mother nodded. " _You_ had the counter for the _bioagent_..." He breathed, horrified. Alley just held him, her own horror clear on her reptilian features.

"Because each and every one of you human kids had a weapon of mass destruction buried inside your bodies." Mother said sadly. "You were intended as bioweapon delivery devices, Mark. Every last one of you."

"Then..." Mark heaved in fear and grief as Ally hugged him tight. "Wait… Wait. If such were on a _timer_." He shook his head. "It would have run out by now."

"Not so much a timer as a trigger. Each of you had that device implanted that was meshed to a similar device minus the bioagent in your companion. That one as designed to deactivate when your companion died." Mother laid one hand on Mark's arm and her other on Alley's. "As soon as Fran's companion died, Fran's internal capsule suddenly stopped receiving the proteins it needed to heal itself and immediately ruptured. She was dead the moment it happened, but she wouldn't die quickly because that would have limited the weapon's usefulness. Everyone who came close to her would die as the agent soaked through her skin and was exhaled in her breath." Mark stared at her, uncomprehending and she bowed her head. "The Elders always intended you kids to be suicide troops to deliver that horrific weapon, Mark. The truth is that what kills you is not the proteins or lack thereof. It is the bioagent that is released. Hence why, every time one of your nest mates failed to meet the protein standard, they were rapidly moved to strict quarantine. None of them could possibly survive that, even with a counter agent."

"The… Elders…" Mark was gasping at this and Alley held him tight. " _WHY?_ " He demanded, anger, fear and horror all mixing in one weak scream.

"Advent was brand new." Mother said sadly. "No one knew if they would succeed in controlling the humans. The humans had fought hard and well, Mark. Better than many other races. They were sneaky, bold and utterly dedicated to their own causes. If a demagogue had risen in one of the new city centers and preached revolution, it might have taken the entire Advent armed force to subdue it. Urban warfare is no joke. That is _one_ city center. Then they would have to repair it."

"Inefficient." Alley said as she held Mark's shivering form.

"So they send one of us in instead." Mark said weakly. Mother and Alley nodded. "Kill the companion or let her be killed and.. bam. No more problem." He was shivering as Alley hugged him tight. "So… what?"

"So, I found a way to disable the devices and get them out of you." Mother heaved a sigh as she squeezed Mark's arm in comfort. "An unpleasant way to be sure. Be glad you slept through that."

" _He_ did." Alley said with a snort. "I guess I have to thank Arisha for that?"

"Such would not hurt." Mother said with a glare that had Alley wincing. "You were very mean to her."

"I couldn't tell her the truth!" Alley protested. Mother glared harder at her and Alley sighed. "Yes, I was mean to her. I will make it up to her."

"You better." Mother warned. A chime sounded. Mark was confuses, but both of the others tensed. Mother's tone became clipped. "Alley. Get Mark up. You need to move to the secure room. Now."

"Oh no." Alley said weakly as she rolled upright. Mark sat up and his head spun. "Mother..."

"I will meet them." The Matriarch of Mark's nest patted his arm and then rose and walked out of the room without a backward look.

"Alley?" Mark pleaded as she forced him to the edge of the bed. Her face was pensive, fearful. "What is going on?"

"The enemy of my enemy just became my enemy." Alley held him as he put his feet on the floor. He wobbled, but managed to stay upright.

" _What?_ " Mark demanded. He started for the door Mother had left through, but Alley pulled him towards a wall instead. He stared as it slid open in front of her. A secret door?

"Mother made a deal with a very unsavory being to save our lives." Alley pulled him into a dim passage. The wall slid shut behind him before he could even protest. "We delivered what we promised."

"But it is not enough for them, is it?" Mark sighed and let Alley pull him forward even though he could barely see.

"No." Alley tapped a wall that looked exactly the same as the rest of the area to Mark and his eyes went wide a door opened to bright light. She pulled him into a large room that gleamed with sterile clean. He stared around at the many beds with clear plastic covers over them that lay around the area. Each bed held a human and a Viper. None of them looked like they were breathing! Alley was quick to reassure him. "Stasis pods, Mark. They are in stasis to hide life signs from scans. We need to do that too."

"Where are we?" Mark demanded as he saw another bed, this one with the cover open. "Oh no. I am not going in there until I have answers!"

"Mother forged alliances." Alley tried to pull him towards the bed, but he set his heels and she couldn't budge him without hurting him. "Not just with X-Com but with others. She, her clan and allies scavenged old battlefields, facilities, labs. All to find the tech she needed to protect us. Mark… You know she considers us her kids."

"I know that." Mark was staring around at doors marked 'Medical', 'Armory', 'Vehicle bay', 'Power', others. "Alley, what is happening?"

Alley let go of his hand and slithered to a wall. She tapped controls and an old fashioned looking screen came alive. On it, their mother was staring down five armed humans in full body armor. They carried the same weapons as the team that had attacked Mark in the hospital. Some kind of laser rifles?

"Where is it?" One of the humans demanded. At least he was professional enough not to wave his weapon around.

"You will not find what you seek here, human." The Matriarch of Mark's small nest said firmly. "Our deal is done. Leave now in peace or do not leave at all."

"You will give us the bioagent." The man said firmly as his compatriots aimed at Mother. Mark quailed as she simply stood there.

"So you can _use_ it?" Mother shook her head. "Not a chance. I gave you the counter and the means to make more of the counter. That is all you were promised. That is all you _get_. Leave. Now."

"You are in no position to make demands." The man declared. "Dr. Vahlen was patient, but she wants a sample and you will give it to her."

"No." Mother said with a shrug. "If there is _one_ thing I have learned about many humans..." Mark inhaled sharply as one of the men fired his weapon and a red bolt of light speared into the center mass of the alien he called Mother. Alley was at his side and both stared at the screen, horrified. Their mother didn't seem to _notice_ the smoldering wound in her chest! Then again… Mutons _could_ take all kinds of punishment even when not as heavily armored as their Mother always was. She continued as if being shot was inconsequential. "...it is that they _do_ love their weapons. If they have access to them, they _will_ use them. Even when _sanity_ says they should _run the_ _fuck away_."

"Uh… oh..." Mark and Alley both said as one when their Mother cursed. In all of Mark's time with her, he had _never_ heard the female Muton curse. She had never _had_ to in order to convey anger. Something very bad was about to happen.

"You will give us the bioagent or we will kill every last alien in this place." The man declared. "We might just leave you alive long enough to watch."

"No." Mother shrugged and Mark winced as several very loud clangs reverberated through the floor. "You won't." What was in her hand? Why was it _steaming?_ Why were all the men suddenly backing away from her as if horrified? "Don't bother running." Mother said softly. "Every door in this vault just sealed and your pathetic tools couldn't _begin_ to cut the metal it is made of. I do wonder how much air you have in those suits."

"You monster!" The spokesman screamed as he ripped at his face which was covered in boils and other nastiness that was growing as the horrified pair watched. He fell to his knees, retching. All of the men were screaming. Two of them seemed to be in fully sealed suits and were scrambling towards the door which looked like a bank vault, only bigger. The others were dying.

" _You_ call _me_ a monster? Hypocrite much? You _wanted_ the last sample?" Mother gasped a bit and Mark was crying as Alley pulled him towards the bed. "You _got_ it."

The video pickup was suddenly filled with her face. Her armor visor slid up and she was crying. Mark was bodily yanked into the bed by Alley and the plastic came down over them. He couldn't look away from the screen as his Mother _died_.

"Mark? Alley? I love you. Take care of the others. Go to sleep now."

The video went dark, but not before they both saw a trail of green fall from her nose. Muton blood.

Mark was still screaming when the stasis systems activated.


	11. Chapter 11

**Debts**

2 years later

The room hadn't changed.

Seven stasis beds lay scattered around the room. Each held two forms, one human, one not. Most of them slept peacefully. One pair did not. The male human still had tears on his face and his mouth was stretched in a silent scream even in the stasis field. The Viper had been hugging him tight as they had been frozen.

Nothing moved and then? Something did.

A barely seen form moved between the beds. It looked like a female human in a yellow gown, but she was transparent. She was shaking her head. She was also muttering.

"Stupid, stupid, _stupid_ Elders… Was there anything dumb you _didn't_ try? Poor kid. She was right." The being said with a sigh as she touched the bed with Mark and Alley in it. It hissed and opened.

As she has expected, Mark immediately started to scream as soon as the stasis field released him.

" _MOTHER NO!_ " Alley was holding Mark as he alternated crying and screaming.

"Easy." The barely seen form touched Mark on the forehead even as Alley hugged him harder. Mark gasped and then shuddered and relaxed, his face going slack. "Easy, Mark." Alley jerked, staring at the half seen form and she smiled at the Viper. "Hello Alley."

"Who are _you?_ " Alley demanded, her hands around her companion protectively.

"We have met, Alley." The other said gently. "You do not remember me. So you will not trust me. I couldn't help you then. I can now." She reached down to cup Mark's cheek.

"Leave him _alone!_ " Alley snapped as she curled around Mark's still form protectively. "He has been hurt _enough!_ "

"Yes, he has, dear Alley." The other agreed. "I won't hurt him. I am here to help, no more, no less. The shock has hurt him far worse than anything except what the Elders did to him when he was a child, before you met him." Alley stared at the transparent woman, clearly unsure and the other took pity on her. "Alley, this has been horrible, what you and your nest have gone through. I want to hold you, console you, kiss you and tell you everything will be better. But I can't. I am not there in the flesh. This is straining the limits of my power, but it had to be done. As you say, Mark has suffered enough. Please, let me help?"

The compassion in her eyes and the calm sincerity in her words had the Viper relaxing a little. Only a little.

"Why?" Alley demanded hugging Mark again. "What do _you_ want from us?"

Who could blame her for such a response after so many upheavals?

"I want to pay the debt I owe your mother." The transparent form said quietly. Alley stared at her and the other nodded. "I cannot help her. I _can_ help you. Will you let me?"

"You didn't answer my question!" Alley snapped. "What do _you_ want?" Alley gasped as the woman touched her forehead before the Viper could dodge. Then her eyes went huge as the transparent woman started to cry. Energy flowed from her into Alley. It felt heavenly. She didn't even think of pulling back.

"So hurt, so lost and alone." The woman said through her tears. "You are not alone, Alley. None of you are alone. You have suffered. _All_ of you have suffered. To answer your question, I want to help you and your nest. I can help. I must."

"Why?" Alley was calming as her fear abated. Whoever this woman was, she wasn't going to hurt Alley right now.

"Because once, long ago, I did not." The woman said sadly. "I stood by and watched as horrible things were done to you and your nest mates. I didn't have a choice." She stroked Alley's cheek with her insubstantial hand and Alley felt comforted. "But what I did was wrong."

"What… What are you doing?" Alley asked as her eyes slowly closed of their own accord.

"I need to talk to all of you. I need to take you someplace calm and quiet where I can explain." The woman was stroking Alley's head just like Mark did. It felt so familiar. "I am going to pull all of you into a psionic plane. Bare moments will pass in the real world, but we can talk as long as we need to for me to explain."

"Please don't hurt him." Alley begged as her eyes finally closed.

"I won't hurt him or you. You have my word." The other promised as she vanished from the room, but each and every bed was now glowing slightly yellow.

* * *

Outside of time and space

Mark was aware. He was calm, but it as imposed. Alley sat beside him as he looked around, incurious. Whatever he was sitting on was soft and yielding. It formed to his body's contours perfectly and it was large enough for Alley to perch beside him. The room he sat in was colorful. The walls were decorated with art that looked like it had been made by children. The ceiling was a pleasant blue and the floor a soothing gray. The room was familiar but he did not know it. Did he?

He felt his emotions boiling inside him, but they did not touch him as Alley snuggled close.

"Alley?" Mark was amazed at how normal his voice sounded. "What is going on?"

"I don't know." Alley sounded a bit subdued. She wasn't acting like she always had. She had always been tough as nails What had happened to her? What had X-Com done to her? She smiled at him then wrapped around him in a gentle embrace. "I grew up, Mark. I know that what I want, I can never have, but that doesn't mean I have to hurt other people to be happy."

"What did you want?" Mark asked, but Alley looked away. "Alley?" He reached out to pull her close. "What is wrong?"

"I wanted children, Mark. I still want them." Alley snuggled with him. "I knew it wasn't possible between you and me because we are very different species. I knew I was a clone, I am sterile. But that doesn't change the feelings."

"That is why you were so close to Mother." Mark said weakly. "You wanted kids. But..."

"But all I could do was watch us dwindle in number." Alley was crying softly as Mark hugged her. "And I couldn't talk about it. Not to anyone!"

Both stiffened as other forms appeared in the room. Were those beanbag chairs they were sitting on? Karina and Alina, Rachel and Adika, Jack and Aroa, Jesse and Arisha, Marina…

Mark inhaled as he saw _Ami_ and _Ana_ sitting with their partners. Marina and Cable looked positively radiant. Who could blame them? Their partners were _alive!_ He was just a jubilant as he smiled at the them and Alley hugged him again. They had lost so many nest mates, to have two back was a miracle.

"The plan was to leave a bunch of dead clones for Advent to find, copies that had never been alive in the first place." Alley said quietly. "They would have quarantined you of course and Mother could have gotten you out easily enough and to us before the triggers went off. But then Alina was hurt and exposed to the agent. Mother used her personal dose of counter agent to save Alina's life"

"How long were you awake?" Mark asked.

"I woke in the room you did, after my surgery. About a day before the other humans arrived." Alley admitted. "I was bit of a mess, but Mother was calm and gentle."

"Surgery." Mark shook his head. "They took out the organ."

"They had to stun it into a stupor first." Alley shivered in remembered pain. "That was _not_ fun." Mark gave her a squeeze. They were hardly the only pair embracing.

"Mark?" Marina said softly. "What happened? We were on the way to Oshina's secure location when the truck hit something. I… I must have hit my head." She put a hand to her head. The others who had been with her nodded. She looked at Jesse and her eyes narrowed. "What is he doing here?"

"He is all alone, Marina." Mark replied before anyone else could speak. "Just like we are. The rest of his nest is dead." Jesse looked at Mark and his eyes were hooded by grief. "I am sorry, Jesse. She told me. Thank you for not frying me." He grinned a little.

"It is a stunner." Jesse said weakly as Arisha crooned to him. "And it hurts every time I do it."

"I need to say something before anyone else. Please?" Alley said when Marina opened her mouth. The human woman nodded to the Viper. Alley took a deep breath and then nodded to Arisha. "When we met, you were hurting. You were scared and alone. You wanted comfort and I did not give it to you. I pushed you away rudely, forced you away when you pressed and for that, I am truly sorry." Arisha nodded acceptance and Alley relaxed.

"You… know… _them_..." Marina was hardly the only human to gawk at Alley as the Viper nodded. What?" The team medic shook her head and then looked around. "Mark? What is going on? Where are we? What happened?"

"Mother is dead, Marina." Mark said quietly. Every one of his nest mates hissed in horror. Jesse and Arisha froze as well. "The allies she found to try and save us turned on her. She stopped them, but in doing so, she died."

"What?" Marina asked, her voice suddenly small.

"There is a lot that Mother and Alley couldn't tell us." Mark hugged Alley as she wilted under the glares of her nest mates. "I do not understand it all, but I can try to explain."

"Where are we?" Cable asked suddenly. "This place is familiar, but I don't know it."

"Yes, you do." Everyone stiffened as a human woman appeared in their midst. If any of the nest mates had been armed, she might have been in trouble. They were not and she wasn't hostile. She had long dark hair and deep brown eyes. She was pretty, not beautiful. She smiled at them and they relaxed a little. "You know this and you know me. You just do not remember. Easer made sure of that."

"Oh, what did she do _now?_ " More than one of the pairs grumped in unison. All of them stopped talking when the woman gave a sob.

"She saved your lives and souls." The newcomer said sadly. "You revile her as a villain, a traitor to the Elders and a torturer. _I_ knew her as a hero."

"She hurt us!" Karina snapped.

"No, she didn't." The strange woman contradicted her gently. "She tried to _stop_ them from hurting you and they _killed_ her for it." Karina opened her mouth to retort angrily, but the woman held up a hand. "You have _half_ of the facts. Do you want the rest? Or do you _prefer_ ignorant anger?" Her grin was sly.

More than one in the room snorted as Karina's face turned beet red. Karina was a lot of things. Patient with willful ignorance was _not_ one of them. Her diatribes on that subject had taken _hours_ on occasion.

"You know her. You know us." Jack, as always, saw more than the others. "This place, you… You knew us. Know us."

"Yes, Jack." The woman said with a sad smile. "I knew you. I was one of the teachers Easer hired to help you acclimatize when the educators didn't work as planned." Everyone winced. That hadn't been fun. If she was one of them, then small wonder they didn't remember. That time was hazy, blurry at best. She looked too young though. "It has been a very long time and I am so very sorry that I could not help you as you so deserved when I first met you."

"When was that?" Mark asked.

"Twenty one years ago now." The woman said with a sigh. "I honestly thought I knew the depths to which the Elders would sink in the pursuit of their goals, but you?" Her face was angry now, but it as not directed at anyone present. "What they did to you was not warranted at all. They never needed you and left you to rot. If not for your Mother and Oshina, you would have lived out your lives in cells or stasis pods."

"Why?" The timid voice had everyone looking at Arisha who cringed under their scrutiny. The still unnamed woman, Mark and Jesse smiled at her and she subsided a bit. "Why would they do that? It doesn't make _sense!_ "

"No." The woman gave herself shake and shook her head. "It doesn't. Paranoia comes easy when one is in the conqueror business which is one reason I avoid it like the plague." She frowned and everyone stared at her, but then she relaxed and smiled again. Everyone relaxed with her. "The humans you Vipers bonded to do not have trainable levels of psionic ability. To the Elders, that made you less than desirable. Alley here has the most power available, but even _she_ would be considered a failure by them. And for that? _I_ consider them morons." Everyone was staring at her now and she nodded. "You were loyal to them and they were not loyal to you."

"But they are the _Elders_." Ami said weakly. Marina hugged her partner. "They _made_ us."

"Creation alone does not mean that you owe them unthinking obedience, Little Ami." She grinned as Ami goggled at her. Ami was physically the largest of the Vipers. Ami giggled and Marina hugged her again. "That is a conundrum of children and parents that has baffled philosophers of many races for as long as history has been recorded. You owe them something, true. Your lives? Your _souls?_ " She shook her head. "They had no reason and no _right_ to do what they did to you."

"What did they do?" Marina asked. "I see the signs of surgery on all of us. What did they do?"

"They implanted us with a bio-weapon, Marina." Mark looked at the floor. "Every human had a bio-weapon capsule implanted and every Viper had the trigger for it. They are all gone now." At his words, every humans face went white. Every Viper looked at the floor. "Mother told you all, didn't she?" They all nodded but Arisha who looked terrified.

"She told us all at the same time. I was the last to go in for surgery and she told us all when I woke." Alley said sadly. "Only Arisha was lost to us. Mother's allies sent a team after her, but Jesse was hurt when they arrived and the team had to drop them off at the hospital for treatment when they couldn't wake Jesse up."

"Which also served as a _very_ good diversion." Mark shook his head. "Oshina?"

"He doesn't know what happened." The woman said quietly. "As far as he knows, he lost all of you and is searching for you even now, two years after you vanished. Your Mother didn't confide the whole truth to him, but she did tell him some. He assumes she is dead or she would have contacted him by now, but he walks his own way."

"You knew Mother more recently, didn't you?" Mark was not surprised when the woman nodded. "Did _she_ know _you?_ "

"She found one of my agents when she was looking for allies. She knew _who_ I was then, she didn't know _what_ I was and am. It was a bit of a shock for her." The woman sighed deeply. "I have had to hide what I am from all kinds of people, but I wasn't going to let _my_ child out into the wide crazy world without watching over him as best I could. Teaching you was a joy." Tears were falling. "And I failed you as badly as Easer did."

"Why couldn't you?" Alley asked. "This isn't real. This is all in our minds. You have power beyond belief if you can pull us all into such a thing."

"This isn't me." The woman said with a smile as the nest mates stared at her. "This is you. This is what Easer planned for you all along. A meeting of like minds. Not slaves, not hidden weapons, _friends_."

"She wiped our minds." Marina said weakly. "Even if she didn't hurt us, she _wiped our minds_. She cost us _everything!_ "

"Did she?" The woman took a deep breath and then let it out slowly. It wasn't quite a sigh or a groan. It was sort of both. "All of your survived the Elder's conquest but most of you were badly hurt. I don't know who any of you were before. If there are records, I do not know where to look for them. Easer was tossed a pile of humans that the Elders considered dross, useless. She had a reputation for making gold our of straw to use a human idiom. You were all broken when she took you. Would you have preferred to die?"

She was not snide or sarcastic. She was honestly curious.

"I don't know. Marina admitted. "I don't know who I was. I cannot imagine life without Ami." She hugged her partner and Ami hugged her back. "Is that…?" She broke off, obviously unsure of what to say.

"No." The woman reassured her with a smile. "Easer _could_ have altered your brain chemistry, programmed you to love one another. You know biochemical combinations, Marina." She waited for Marina nod. "But it wouldn't have _lasted_. Especially into human _puberty_." She winced at that and several others shared it. They had been a handful. "If she had? As soon as all of you, human and Viper alike, had realized how badly you have been abused..." She made a face. "I don't need to say it. The Elder's tools learned that lesson, didn't they?"

" _That they did._ " Every Viper chorused in unison, even Arisha!

"So, mother was guarding us? Protecting us?" Rachel asked softly. "Or holding us?"

"All that and more." The woman said with a nod. "The Elders thought she was preserving their hidden weapons and allowing their slaves some small measure of freedom so they didn't start to question. _She_ was following Easer's long laid plan to free you all and maybe her clan too. She wasn't perfect, and she had a temper, but she was a good friend, Shinaora was. I failed her and you before. Now I have a second chance and I _beg_ of you to let me try to make it right."

"Trust has to begin somewhere." Mark looked at his nest mates but none looked uneasy. They had always followed Mother's orders and assumed her loyalty to the Elders was absolute. Without her, they were lost. Directionless. "But… Even if we did know you, we do not remember you. What is your name?"

His eyes went huge as the woman in front of him smiled and expanded. Suddenly a huge yellow form hovered in midair in the midst of the, it should have been terrifying. It wasn't. She was happy. They could feel her happiness, her sadness, her loss, her grief, but also her joy, her love, her faith, her devotion to… To them.

"Once, my name was Shamash." The Ethereal said a tone that seemed to ring of joyful bells.

"But you may call me 'Lady'."


	12. Chapter 12

**Doubt**

"Do you believe her?"

The nest was exploring their current home and by consensus, no one was alone. The Vipers had been given a quick tour by Mothers before the humans and Alina had arrived, but Jesse and Arisha were so utterly lost that Mark and Alley had taken pity on them. Alley in particular seemed to think Arisha was a little sister of sorts, which made sense. Arisha _was_ a younger version of the older Vipers. Alley still wasn't always nice, but now? She had good reason for most of what she did.

Mark looked away from piles of stuff at Jesse's quiet question and pursed his lips. Both of the Vipers were busy sorting things in the piles.

"She was fairly convincing." Mark said with a frown. "I mean, how many Ethereals have _you_ seen? She could have demanded our obedience and even after everything? Most of us would have bowed to her without question. She didn't."

"Good point." Jesse sounded far older and wiser than his years. He was maybe sixteen and he was trying very hard to be older. "Um… Mark?"

"Yes?"

"Did I have a bio-weapon thing in me?" Jesse asked in a small voice. Mark nodded. Mother had left a pile of medical records that Marina and Ami were busy combing for clues. "That was why they hurt me?"

"Yes, but they got it out of you and the trigger out of Arisha" Mark reached out to pat Jesse's arm. He paused. Jesse was trembling. "Jesse?"

"I feel weird." Jesse said weakly. "Really, really weird. Even weirder than when I woke up with _this_." He held up his right hand, but nothing shone now. A wonderful backup weapon, that odd stunner.

"Why did they give you that?" Mark asked, his hand going to Jesse's forehead. No fever, that was good.

"I don't know and Mother didn't either." Jesse sighed and forced himself to relax. "They did it to all of us and made us train with them, even though it hurt." He made a face and flexed his hand.

"Of course they did." Mark's tone was flat as he patted Jesse's shoulder. "We were not people to them. We were things. Disposable weapons."

"What are we going to _do?_ " Jesse said weakly. "If the Elders are truly gone and X-Com is truly running things, they _killed_ Mother!"

The Lady had been open and willing to answer any questions the group proposed. They had spent a long time talking to the Ethereal before waking back in their bodies. It hadn't been a shock that X-Com had fought, it _had_ been that the humans had won against all odds. For certain values of 'winning' anyway. Earth was a wasteland and humanity was scattered and mostly broken, but they were free.

Now? So was the nest. Which included Jesse and Arisha.

"I know." Mark was not surprised at all when Arisha darted from the piles of stuff she had been going through and embraced Jesse. Both looked so young it hurt. "Take what time you need. If you want to talk, I am here."

"I feel weird." Jesse sighed and shook his head as Arisha checked his vitals. "I am not sick. I just feel weird."

"Your pulse is elevated." Arisha said after a moment, her face worried. Alley looked up from what she was doing. Was she smiling? When Mark looked again, her face was serene. "You are not hurt, you are not feverish." She shook her head. the tip of her tail moving back and forth in distress. "I don't know why you would-"

"Stop." Alley's voice was soft as she slithered to join the group. She laid a hand on Arisha's closest arm. "Arisha, calm down. Jesse. You are okay. Just think calm thoughts for a moment, your agitation is affecting Arisha." Jesse stilled, his face suddenly stricken and Arisha embraced him.

 _Wait a minute._ Mark remembered something like this happening to him once. It had been… Yeah, weird was a pretty good descriptor for the feelings.

"What is going on?" Arisha begged. Mark looked at Alley whose head nodded just a little. Mark hid a grin. Oh dear. She knew what this was. Mark did too.

"Arisha, it is okay." Mark patted the arm that Alley held. "You need to take Mark to go see Marina." He looked at Alley and that was tiny grin on the Viper's face that faded as the distraught pair looked at them. "She knows what to do." Alley made a noise that was odd, but neither Jesse nor Arisha seemed to notice. "We know what this is and we can handle it. Tell her this is S-0 situation. She will know what to do."

"S-0?" Arisha asked. "I don't understand."

"Just do what she tells you no matter how odd it may seem. We have all gone through this." Mark reassured her. "It is embarrassing and parts can be frightening, but Marina was trained in how to handle such things. You know how good she is at medical matters."

Considering that the _very_ first thing Marina had done on waking from the talk with the Lady was take over the medical ward and submit Jesse and Arisha to _full_ physicals? Oh yes. No one would question her competence and certainly not more than once.

"I..." Arisha seemed to deflate.

"Arisha." Alley leaned close to the other Viper. "It is nothing bad or wrong. It is normal and natural for our kind. And, you are psionic, so I can say from experience that you are in for a _very_ pleasant surprise." Arisha stared at the elder Viper, confused. Jesse sighed and took her hand, starting for the door.

Mark and Alley waited for the door to shut and seal before starting to laugh.

"'S-0'?" Alley asked through her giggles. " _Really?_ That was the _best_ you could do?"

"Hey, I wasn't going to say the V-word after the tantrum Rachel threw." Mark smirked as Alley giggled harder. "It wasn't _our_ fault she waited so long." At that, Alley broke down and laughed. Mark laughed with her. There had been so much bad that it felt good to laugh.

"When was your last?" Alley asked, her face turning intent.

"Alley." Mark groaned. "I know you feel it all through the link you have, but there are some things that should be private even from a mind reader. No peeking on Marina and Jesse." That was an order.

"I wouldn't." Alley sobered. "The first time is always a bit frightening, not that any of you humans will ever admit that. Even to yourselves."

"Yeah. I was sure I was going have a heart attack and die, as fast as my heart was racing." Mark admitted.

"And I didn't help." Alley slumped a bit.

"Alley, I was fourteen!" Mark wasn't having any of her down. "You were what? Six?" He shook his head. "It was memorable and I enjoyed it. So did _you_ once Mother got through thrashing you for peeking." Alley winced and then she smiled.

"I did." The Viper slid close and hugged Mark before retreating a bit. "If she is anything like I was, she will want him to do it 24/7. We will need to watch her. She cannot do it herself, but she may push him into things."

"The voice of experience speaks." Mark said mildly.

As a Viper, Alley couldn't blush, but she could and did look highly embarrassed. She had been a bit focused on certain aspects of Mark's life after that episode. It had gotten painful on occasion. Literally. He had finally gone to Mother who had sat them both down and had a long talk. Then she had done the same for the other pairs. Luckily, each talk was in private since in many human societies, the talk was commonly called 'the birds and the bees'. A common euphemism for parental education about reproduction.

"Yes." Alley's tone was sober now. "I messed up and I could have hurt you badly. I didn't, thanks to Mother and sheer dumb luck. We are so few, Mark. We must take care of each other."

"Alley, I am not Mother." Mark said quietly. "I cannot lead us."

"If not you, then who?" Alley asked. "The Lady didn't press us. I think she doesn't _want_ our obedience, as odd as that seemed form an Ethereal."

"True." Mark mused as he turned back to the piles. "Anything interesting?"

"Mark, you are going to have to take charge." Alley said quietly. "Everyone is waiting to see what you do."

"Alley, I am Field Team Leader, not Mother!" Mark protested, bending down to pick up something that caught his eye. It looked like a long sleeve made of metal. It was supple and bent under his fingers, but just looking at it and feeling it? It would probably shed _plasma_ , let alone bullets. "What is _this?_ "

"I think it is armor." Alley said slowly. She took it from Mark and held it up to herself. Her eyes went huge as she saw it would fit over her long, thin body with two sleeves hanging down for her arms. "Who makes armor for _my_ kind?"

Mark had to admit, the idea seemed a bit preposterous. Vipers who served the Elders as troops had relied on speed and agility to flank enemies or deliver surgical strikes. Not to mention the dread 'tongue whip and pull into death embrace'. They didn't wear armor. Then again, to the Elders, they had been disposable. Lose one, two or _ten?_ Clone more.

"I bet Mother planned on protecting you." Mark shook his head slowly. "We humans can wear armor designed for humans or hybrids. But you? You are vulnerable. If that _is_ armor, then you will be less vulnerable.'

"Less mobile too." She replied a bit darkly. "If so, she didn't get more than one set." Alley said sadly as she rooted through the pile and didn't find any more. There were plates that looked like they attached to parts of it, but nothing else. No helmet either, not that either could easily envision a helmet shaped for a Viper's head. She shook her head. "Arisha."

"Alley?" Mark turned as her firm tone registered.

"Arisha is the youngest of us and the least experienced." Alley said with a glare. "I talked with her a bit while Jesse was in for his checkup. She is only two, Mark." Mark nodded. He had expected such. "She wants to do her part, but she hadn't been through the training Oshina gave us. She hasn't been in the field surrounded by people who wanted her dead."

"You like her." Mark kept his face straight as Alley's face took on a strange cast. It shouldn't have been possible for a Viper's face to show such things, but he and Alley had been together for a long time. Alley as worried. She considered Arisha a sister now and she was damn sure going to protect her sister.

"I do." Alley said finally. "I was very mean to her when we first met. Then again, she _did_ coil up around me without permission." She glared at Mark as he fought hard not to laugh. "That is not funny." Mark just looked at her and she finally relented and then smiled, just a little. "Okay, maybe a little funny. But she _is_ the most vulnerable of us."

"True. Getting her to _wear_ it now? That might be harder than convincing me she needs protection." Mark shook his head as he looked at the piles. "No food here."

"No." Alley sighed deeply as she laid the armor back on the pile. "No food anywhere that we have found. This was intended as a secure bolthole and storage unit, not a survival shelter. We will have to leave."

"At least we won't die of thirst." Mark nodded as he looked to tanks of water by one wall. He turned to leave the room and Alley followed, casting one more look at the odd armor.

"Yeah, but if we are here for more than another day, we _will_ start to stink the place up." Alley reminded him sourly.

"So..." Mark ignored his partner's sour tone by dint of long practice. "We have the gear and weapons we had when we were brought here. Not much reserve ammunition. Most of us had field rations in our pockets." Alley made a face and Mark nodded. "Yeah, I know. We need real food." He continued. "We have piles of stuff that Mother or her allies collected and we have some gear that frankly has made Rachel and Marina almost swoon."

"True." Alley opened the door and they exited into the main corridor of the base or whatever it was. "I thought Rachel was going to gun-gasm over that plasma sniper rifle."

That had been a hell of a shock. It wasn't Advent tech. It looked like old human tech, but when they had tested it carefully in the fully stocked armory with range, everything had worked. It was definitely at least as dangerous as modern Advent weaponry had been when Mark and the others had gone to sleep, if not more so. It was tossup who had loved it more, Rachel or Cable.

"You and me both." Mark grinned with his partner. Then his mood soured. "We have to go. But the only way out… Is it wrong that I am afraid?"

"No." Alley said softly. "Not wrong at all. I don't want to see her either."

They had the codes to exit the facility. They had maps of the anthill like design, even though most of the place was ruined or inaccessible due to damage. Bits of it looked like there had been hard fighting, plasma scars, bullet holes, old human and alien blood splatters that had permanently stained walls and floor, that kind of thing. He hadn't seen any markings anywhere and he figured that was deliberate. Mother or her people had likely removed any markings of the previous owners. Still, this place had been huge once.

There was only one way out and the airlock chamber that led there had six corpses in it. Six contaminated corpses. Five enemies. One not.

"We have the stockpile of counter agent and plenty of hazmat gear." Mark allowed. Marina had checked that first and been pleasantly surprised. Mother had apparently set up an entire automated foundry to make counter agent and it had been chugging along the whole time the pairs had been sleeping. They had _hundreds_ of doses. What they did _not_ have, thankfully, was any of the bio-agent itself. Then the hazmat gear, some of it was designed for humans or hybrids, some for other races, including Vipers. "I will do it."

"Not alone." Alley's tone brooked no argument and for once? Mark didn't even quibble. He didn't want to do it at all. "It should have stopped being virulent after a year but I am not going to risk any of our lives on a 'should'."

"Good." Mark took a deep breath as he entered the main room and found the entire group clustered around Jesse and Arisha. The boy's face was flaming and Arisha? She was all but crying! "What the-?"

"Mark." Marina stepped out of the crowd, her face severe. "S-0? _Really?_ " She put her hands on her hips as she tried to channel their Mother and did fairly good job.

"Best I could come up with that wouldn't set Rachel off." Mark replied with a smile and Marina looked as if she had swallowed a bug. Several in the group chuckled. That was so true. "Is there a problem?"

"Well, aside from our newest brother's acute embarrassment..." Marina said mildly as Jesse's face impossibly turned even redder. "... _I_ had a session a day before we went into the field last. Rachel and Karina are..." She paused to think of a diplomatic word.

"Squabbling about whose turn it is?" Mark was having a very hard time keeping his face straight as the whole group barring Jesse and Arisha laughed. He looked at his two sisters who looked at the floor. "Oh come _on!_ It is not like you have to _share_ him or anything." Arisha made a strangled noise and Alley slid up to her, taking hold of the younger Viper.

"This is a _human_ conversation, Arisha." Alley said gently. Indeed, _none_ of the other Vipers were present. They had likely bolted as soon as Marina had started explaining to Jesse. They knew. "Don't doubt your feelings for him or his for you. This isn't about emotions, this is about biology and you do _not_ want to _know_ the particulars of that. Trust me on this. We will continue the inventory." She half led, half pulled the unresistant younger Viper towards another door. The look she cast at the others as she left the room with Arisha in tow spoke volumes.

"Thank you, Alley." Mark sighed as he stepped to where Jesse stood, face flaming. "So much for me trying to keep it low key." He complained to Marina who shrugged.

"'Sexual Encounters- 0' is _anything_ but 'low key'." Marina snapped. "He thought he was _dying_ , Mark!"

"Really?" Mark asked. Jesse nodded, his eyes on the floor. "Damn. I am sorry, Jesse. Give me a field tactical problem, I can handle that. This interpersonal stuff is a black art. You are not dying although part of you wishes you would so the embarrassment would go away." Jesse looked at him and Mark nodded. "Yeah, I felt the same. We _all_ went through this. Every last one of us." Every one of the nest mates nodded. "We are not human anymore, but we do still feel human. Including the urges."

"I feel so weird." Jesse pleaded. Mark patted his shoulder.

"It is going to be all right." Mark promised. "Rachel? Karina? Pick a number between one and ten. Closest to my number."

"Two." Karina said instantly.

"Nine." Rachel was bare moments slower.

"My number was seven." Mark stated. Karina muttered something under her breath that he chose to ignore. Rachel opened her mouth to say something, but Mark beat her to it. "Jesse, try not to stun her. Rachel. _Be. Gentle._ "

Every one of the nest mates stiffened as Mark's growl swept the room. Mother herself couldn't have bettered that growl that implied harsh punishment if Rachel transgressed. Rachel looked at him and then nodded. She reached out to take Jesse's hand in hers. He seemed barely to be breathing as he put an arm around his shoulder and led him out of the room towards another that the nest had setup as sleeping quarters. Only blankets and pillows on a floor, but it would suffice. It also had a door that _locked_.

Only after the pair had left did the remaining nest mates look at each other and smile. Even Karina was smiling. Mark had to admit, Jesse's first time as going to be something special. Rachel may have been dead set on removing the word 'virgin' from the language used by the nest, but everyone in the nest had seen and felt her work. She was good at making her partner feel both loved and _exhausted_.

"Probably just as well she won." Karina surprised Mark by saying. He looked at her and she shrugged. "He is not ready for me."

" _I_ wasn't either." Mark admitted and everyone laughed.

The old human word for what Karina practiced in the bedroom was 'dominatrix'.


	13. Chapter 13

**Honor**

It was done.

Mark and the other humans had worked hard and carefully to clean up the mess. It had been slow going, both because of the emotions involved and because of the very real chance of the bio-agent still being dangerous. The hazmat suits had worked however and none of the many detection devices they carried picked up any traces of the Elders' evil. Unfortunately, the Viper sized ones were not in very good condition. Maybe unfinished? Maybe cannibalized for parts. Either way, no one had commented, the humans had simply gone to work.

The dead humans had been fairly easy to clean up. Two of them had apparently been in sealed suits and might have survived until their air ran out. Both had shot themselves instead when it had become clear that they could not get out. The others had just lain where they had fallen, barely deformed at all by the tiny biotech machines that had killed them. Their weapons and armor were inferior to what the nest already had, so Mark and the others would have left them with the bodies but they didn't want to take a chance on scavengers finding this place and trying to break in. They likely wouldn't be able to, but it might make more of a mess to clean u. Also, Mark had an idea for the weapons that fit what he knew of Mother's clan traditions. The humans didn't have much else on them. No IDs, no money, no nothing. Odd.

It was the other body that had been really, really hard to handle. Part of that was size. Mutons were not small _or_ light. It took all seven of the human nest mates to other their mother from her resting place. A gurney or trolley would have helped, but no one had found anything like that. An appliance dolly was finally found and shoved beneath the slain alien. With a great deal of effort and few words that she would not have approved of, they rolled her into the facility to a room that the Vipers had been setting up.

The other part? Everyone was trying hard not to cry.

"I read somewhere that once, humans burned their noble dead." Karina was hardly the only one with red, puffy eyes as they manhandled their Mother's body onto the bier they had built for her.

Her resting place was not much at all, just a slab of plastic slightly higher than the floor. They had no flowers or any way to keep such alive in here so the Vipers had been working with a pad of paper and colored pencils that they had found, drawing various forms of flora to decorate the place. Some were childlike, others were incredibly lifelike. All were mean to honor the being who had protected them for so long. Other than the bier and its occupant and now the drawings? The room was bare.

"While that would be easier in some ways, that is not her clan's way." Mark said mildly as they finally got her situated. If you ignored the face, she lay as if sleeping. Her body hadn't decomposed at all in the sterile room. Even two years in that room hadn't given an Earth bound decomposing agents the chance to touch her alien physiology. "We want to do this right. Not the least of which because Oshina will ask but also, we owe her."

He nodded to the team and they lay the weapons that they had collected from the X-Com team around her as trophies. He remembered Oshina telling storied of ancient Muton warriors who had been buried with the weapons of their slain foes to ward them through the afterlife. He bowed his head and slowly laid his own Advent issued pistol down at her side. The other humans and Vipers did the same, many now crying. They arrayed the old weapons so that if she were to somehow rise and need them, the rail and plasma pistols would be at hand.

"I didn't always like you, Mother." Mark said into the silence that fell. "You held us together with a firm hand and firm voice. I am not you. I can never be you. But you taught me to do what I must, so I will."

Mark stepped back and everyone else had lined up now. He took his position in their midst, then unslung his rifle and held it in salute. All of the others did likewise.

"Hail Shinaora." Mark said quietly in Mother's native tongue. It was not easy for humans to speak, but he and the rest of the nest had studied many languages. "'Mother' to us. Your duty is done. We live and we will bear words of your honor to the rest of your clan. Rest easy, warrior. Your battles are done."

He clasped his rifle to his chest, each and every member of the nest doing the same. Then he turned and strode from the room. The others followed him. Alley brought up the rear and stopped just outside the door. He nodded to her and she shut the door, locking it. The sterile field inside would keep Mother's body from decomposing at all until her clan could see her. Then? Who knew.

Whatever happened? Mark bet it would be _loud_. He knew Oshina.

"Now what?" Jesse asked and then gulped as Rachel laid a hand on his arm. The look they shared was priceless. Arisha was smirking until Alley glared at her.

"Now we need to find Oshina's clan." Mark said softly. "But before we do… I was Field Team Lead. Each of us was given a role by Mother and we embraced it since we knew no other way to be."

"I know." Jesse bowed his head. "I was learning to work on mechanical things. Some of everything but focused on opening locks, physical and electronic." Mark looked at him and Jesse raised his hand. "This is good for more than shooting people and um..." He looked at Rachel and his face pinked as she smirked.

"I don't need to know." Mark reassured him. Then he grinned. "What is more? I am not sure I _want_ to know." More than one of the others chuckled with him as Jesse nodded. "Arisha?"

"I write songs." Arisha said in a timid voice. When no one mocked her or even looked unsure, she straightened. "Music seems to be a universal thing."

"Communication was _supposed_ to be our main job." Mark said with a nod. "Your music is incredible." Arisha preened little at his praise. The others of his nest looked at him, curious and he smiled. "We will have to have you sing for the rest of us sometime. You who haven't heard her sing are in for a _treat_." He said as the others looked dubious.

"Yes, you are. I heard her once and it was marvelous." Alley agreed as she slithered up beside Arisha. "Arisha and I need to talk."The younger Viper looked a bit timid, but Alley smiled. "Nothing bad. Arisha. We just need to focus our minds on things that we did not before."

"Be careful." Mark warned. "We do not have access to Advent medical care anymore. While Marina has found a lot of medical gear in here, we have no other support." Alley nodded and then led Arisha down the corridor towards another room. Once they were gone, Mark sighed. "So, we need to find Oshina. The Lady said he was looking for us, but even now, I am not sure I trust her."

"We do not know her." Aroa said quietly. She rarely talked so when she did? Everyone listened.

"Agreed." Mark made a face. "Trust must be earned and she hasn't had the chance yet. I say we give her one, but watch our backs. We need food and we need more information. We can find neither of them in here, so we have to leave. Thing is, where do we go? We found maps but we are a long ways from any of the city centers."

"Would we be welcome there?" Alina asked, her face pensive. "We _did_ flee the Elders."

"I don't know." Mark admitted. "I didn't think to ask the Lady about current events or feelings towards aliens. I bet any who served the Elders are not welcome now. And us?" He nodded to his human nest mates. "They would probably call us traitors just like the humans would."

"So, either side has reason to shoot at us?" Karina slumped a bit. "Joy."

"Okay, so another infiltration?" Jack inquired, his mind obviously working. "We get into a city center, access an archives and see of we can find out anything about Oshina?"

"First up is finding transportation." Mark said with a frown as he pulled his pad out of his pocket. He keyed up a holographic map and nodded. He pointed at a spot on it. "This area nearby is marked 'Hangar' but there is no further information. We all had basic training. Any one of us can operate any Advent vehicle. Alina can hack her way in if needed." The Viper nodded. "But we saw the terrain outside through the scopes. This area is heavily overgrown."

"I recommend we scout it first." Jack said as everyone stared at the map. "If there _is_ a vehicle..." He broke off as everyone but Jesse spoke up in unison, human and Viper alike.

"You do not get to drive it!"

"Hey." Jack said with wounded dignity. "That was _not_ my fault." Mark glared at him and Jack wilted a little. "Okay, maybe it was. But it wasn't as easy as it looked. I followed the lines."

"I don't see how driving an armored van _though a crowded shopping mall and out the other side_ was 'following the lines'." Mark said with a grunt. "Try again."

"I heard a little about that." Jesse said softly. "Something about spending a year rebuilding the place by hand?" Mark nodded. "Ouch."

"I got lost." Jack wilted further as everyone but Jesse glared at him.

"You are very lucky no civilians were killed when you drove through the food court." Mark said sourly. "You are also very lucky none of us or Aroa _strangled_ you for putting us through that." Jesse looked at him and Mark shook his head with a deep sigh. "It was a wheeled APC. He _said_ he could handle the controls."

"You were..." Jesse broke off and swallowed hard.

"Yeah." Mark was still angry even now. "We were in the back when he drove it _off_ the road, _through_ the lobby, _up_ into the food court, _off_ the second floor _balcony_ ,..." Jesse winced and everyone nodded. "...splashed down _through_ the fountain and then exited the mall _out_ the side door. Incidentally, taking out several _walls_ in the process. Then he made it _back_ onto the road. Even in armor, several of us broke bones. I broke a femur. Aroa broke her _tail_. If we hadn't had helmets on, someone would have been _killed_. Mother was _not_ amused and Jack was not sitting easily for a week." He shook his head. "Aroa, new order. If Jack goes anywhere _near_ the controls of _any_ kind of vehicle, knock him out using any force needed. Try not to hurt him, but please, for the love of God, keep him from hurting _us_." Everyone but Jack nodded fervent agreement.

"Yes, sir." Aroa said with a glare at her partner who had the sense not to reply to that. Then he perked up.

"And if it is a flying transport?" Jack asked and he jerked as everyone, _including_ Jesse now, shouted.

" _NO!_ "

For a moment, here was utter silence and then Mark shook his head.

"We do need transport." Mark said quietly. "If there is a vehicle, I can operate it. I was planning to go pilot or driver anyway before Mother tapped me for field command. We have secure coms and our weapons..."

At least the whole nest had found time to run through the firing range to try out the new toys.

He shook his head as he looked at the weapon in his hands. It looked like an old style human assault rifle. Sort of. It had a large, cylindrical thing around the end of the barrel and its 'magazine' was a power pack instead of a metal box filled with chemical propelled projectile rounds. It also had an underslung thing that Rachel and Cable had determined was a stunner like the ones that had been used on Mark at the hospital. It _did_ fire projectiles, but it used human tech to accelerate the small metal pieces to a decent fraction of the speed of light. Very similar to an Advent railgun and totally human manufacture. Mark wasn't sure about them at all, but they worked. Now if only Rachel would stop tinkering with the magazine fed launcher slung under _her_ weapon, he would be far happier. She was still figuring out what she could and could not fire out of it. The small metal globes that festooned her armor frankly worried him. She knew what she was doing, but he couldn't help being a bit nervous when the demolition specialist started playing with things.

For all of his faults, Jack was good at his own job which was probably the _only_ reason Mother hadn't flayed alive for that stunt with the APC. His own weapon was a smaller version of the other rifles, with a long tube mounted on the end. The rounds that came out of that were still propelled magnetically, but slower, far slower. They did not break the sound barrier, so did not make a 'crack'. His weapon was utterly silent and very scary. If he could see it, he could probably hit it.

Speaking of that…

Cable hadn't spoken much and Mark turned to the sniper who nodded to him. The long range combat specialist had dearly wanted to carry the plasma sniper rifle they had found, but Rachel had pointed out that they had no idea how to reload it or _if_ it needed to be. The last thing _anyone_ wanted was to run out of ammo in the middle of a fight, so he had settled for a compromise. Sort of. The weapon he was carrying looked an awful lot like the one that the X-Com goon had shot Mother with. It fired an odd looking laser beam. Where most lasers Mark had seen had been red, so as to be easy to see, _this_ one fired a blue-green bolt that was far harder to track. That had to be intentional. Add the massive scope on top, and Mark was pretty sure Cable could hit objects in _orbit_. Lasers were only really limited by power and line of sight after all.

"You saw the terrain through the outside scanners. How many do you think for a quick run, Cable?" Mark asked.

The sniper pursed his lips. He was the best in the group at reading maps and deciphering things by looking at them. Jack was better at sneaking into places, Cable was better at hiding in place. They made a good team. He stepped up to the map and nodded. He pointed to it.

"Best access is likely to be _here_. Looks like a ravine or old watercourse. No rain recently so less chance of flash floods." His finger speared the projection and a yellow dot appeared on it. "Heavily overgrown. I recommend three pairs. You to operate if needed, me to cover, Jack to scout." Then he grinned. "If it has guns, can I try them?"

"Let's see what it _is_ first. If it is an old human vehicle, it likely won't work." Mark had to smile though. Cable had been like a kid in a candy store with some of the things that had been left for them. He loved big guns as much as Rachel liked things that made big booms. "Alley may be awhile talking to Arisha. I don't know anything about psionics except that it is powerful."

"We are with you." Ana said with a smile and Aroa nodded from Jack's side. Both carried stubby versions of Mark's rifle, better suited for their size. Neither of their weapons had attachments, but they were just as accurate with them as they had been with their Advent issued weapons.

"Okay." Mark turned to the other as Jack, Cable, Aroa and Ana moved to flank him. "Everyone else? Make three piles. Pack up what you think we _will_ need, what we _may_ need and what you _desire_." Everyone grinned at the last and Mark smiled as well. They had found stuff in this place was was unreal. "I don't know how much space we will have for stuff or if we will have any. It might be an old human motorcycle for all we know." He said with a wince. He had tried an Advent version once. Once.

"Ammo, weapons, coms, medical." Mariana nodded. "And a few toys." She grinned back at Mark.

"Right. Sooner there, sooner back." Mark started for the entrance to the facility as the others peeled off to do their thing. He steadfastly ignored Jesse moving to talk to Rachel who had an indulgent smile on her face.

The dead X-Com troops had been stuffed into bodybags after being searched and left in the room Mark ignored them as he had ever since they had been dropped. They were enemies, he would spare no emotion on them. He moved to the door with the others as Cable checked the scanners. The sniper hissed and Mark turned to look at him.

"Movement outside." Cable said slowly. "Human sized. More than one."

"Damn." Mark sighed. "Okay, Aroa, Ana, back. Stay to the sides, cover us. Cable, all the way back. Jack, with me."

The Vipers slunk to the walls where they would hopefully be out of sight or at least out of the line of fire. Cable went prone on the floor behind the pair as Mark and Jack moved to the door. A click heralded the sniper setting his bipod down, but nothing else. Mark looked around and everyone was ready. He laid his hand on a patch of wall that looked the same as thee rest and spoke as it glowed green.

"Clever girl." Mark had no idea why Mother had liked the movie 'Jurassic Park' so much, but she had.

The door clanked and then slowly retracted. What met his eyes had him freezing.

The woman in X-Com marked armor had a shotgun like weapon in hand and had a sword sheathed across her back. Her eyes were cold underneath her... Her _baseball cap?_ She spoke before Mark could and her voice was just as cold as her eyes.

"Mind telling me what you are doing trespassing here?"


	14. Chapter 14

**To stand alone**

For a long moment, the X-Com woman just stood, waiting for Mark to speak. He didn't. Instead, he took a long, slow look around. There was a small clearing near the entrance, more a break in the forest that was growing all around them than an actual cleared area. Certainly not artificial. He did not miss several shadows that held long objects. They were in professional concealed positions around the area. They had him cold. He did not raise his weapon, but he did not lower it either. It would be a matter of moments to raise it and fire, but if this woman was half the killer she seemed? She could do the same and her shotgun would likely tear right though him at this range even with his armor on. Let alone her sword. Heaven only knew what _that_ could do. Cable could probably poke the iris out her eye at this range, but that wouldn't save Mark.

"Well?" The woman demanded, obviously irked by Mark's silence.

"I don't see any signs." Mark kept his tone conversational. It was hard, knowing he was smack dab in the middle of the kill zone of at least four and probably more hardened killers.

"Signs?" The woman asked, a bit off balance from his casual rejoinder.

"Yeah." Mark shrugged slightly, not moving his weapon from where it hung in his hands. He smiled, but the expression had little humor in it. "If you declare something to be private property, isn't it customary to put up 'No Trespassing' signs? To, you know, keep people out?"

"Unless of course, it is supposed to be a secret." The woman replied.

"It kind of defeats the purpose if people don't know to stay out." Mark was sure the woman almost smiled at that. No. Couldn't be. "Having something well hidden is all well and good but if there is _one_ thing I have truly learned about humans, we are _very_ good at breaking rules."

A snort came from Ana's hiding spot, but she didn't move.

"On that, we can agree, if likely on little else." The woman said with a grunt. "Care to step outside?"

Mark made a snap judgment. He was used to sizing up people in a hurry and this woman absolutely reeked of 'no bullshit'. She might gun him down without hesitation, but she likely wouldn't shoot him in the back unless the tactical situation called for it. Subterfuge would likely piss her off and he bet she knew more than he was comfortable with.

"I don't think that would be wise of me." Mark replied. "Right now, I have partial cover from the two soldiers on the left. It is not much, but it is far better than I would have if I step out into the kill box." The woman's eyes narrowed and he shook his head a little. "What do you want, X-Com? You didn't come all the way out here just to bust my chops." _He_ snorted. "'Trespassing', my ass."

"This was an X-Com facility once." The woman replied, her hand squeezing the grip of her shotgun. "So, you are trespassing."

"Technically?" Mark pursed his lips. "If anything, I think this would be squatting, since there were no residents, no signs, no insignia, no nothing inside to show who did own it." He gave that minute shrug again. "You want us gone? Too bad. I am not going to walk out into your line of fire just because you asked me nicely."

One of the shadows outside actually snickered at that and the woman in front of Mark shook her head. Then everything stopped as a voice Mark knew sounded. Milodi was not happy.

"Can you get _done_ with the ritual dick beating, already? Yes, you are both badasses and crazy. But _geez!_ " A very familiar voice heralded three forms stepping into the clearing and Mark felt as if he had been punched in the gut. Priest Milodi looked very little like the Priest he remembered. She was wearing some kind of white short sleeved robes instead of Advent armor, but that paled beside her right arm which was an obvious prosthetic. It looked like Advent tech, but not quite. Maybe a bit more advanced? "Hello Mark." She smiled, but that smile faltered as he looked at her. He didn't move, didn't react at all and she bit her lip. "Mark, we are not enemies."

"Really." Mark looked from Milodi to the X-Com soldier and back.

"Mark, we don't want a fight here." Milodi said slowly. "Please. Where is your Mother?"

"Dead." Mark said flatly and Milodi recoiled.

"What?" Milodi asked. "I… No." She seemed to wilt. "Damn, she just said to come out here and talk to you. She didn't go into any detail." She took a step forward, but her guards moved to block her. "Damn it, move!" She snapped, but they did not.

Mark looked at the guards and they studied him in return. In form, both were Advent hybrids, but their armor and gear were _anything_ but Advent pristine. Was that an animal fur around one's shoulders? It sure looked like it. Just looking at them they were professionals and _not_ happy with Milodi.

"He won't hurt me!" Milodi snapped as she tried to go around her guards again, but they moved with her.

"They cannot know that." The X-Com woman said quietly.

"You were kind to us all, Priest Milodi." Mark admitted. "You were gentle with frightened, hurting beings and for that, I do thank you. But you _did_ serve the Elders." Milodi slumped and Mark nodded. "I mean no offense to you, Priest Milodi, but you did."

"Which means you cannot trust me after what the Elders did to you." Milodi sounded old and tired for a moment. "Mark… We know. X-Com and I know what the Elders did to you."

"Of course they know." Mark still did not take his eyes off the armored woman in front of him. She tilted her head in query, not moving her weapon. "It was X-Com personnel who tried to take the last sample of bioagent and shot Mother when she refused to give it up."

He had thought the tension in the clearing was high before. Now? It was astronomical. Milodi stared at him, her wide eyes scared. She looked at the X-Com woman who shook her head.

"Colonel?"

"I know nothing of this." The human in front of Mark said slowly.

"You know I cannot trust a word you say." Mark was just as slow and careful and his finger curled around his trigger.

" _No one move!_ " Milodi slammed through her guards to stand between Mark and the woman, hands outstretched both ways to ward off them both. "Mark… I serve the Lady now. She told me she talked to you, but she was so very tired, she couldn't tell me much. I was overjoyed when I heard you survived. What happened? _X-Com_ killed you _Mother?_ "

"Technically, no." Mark replied quietly, still ready to move or fire. "They demanded the last sample of bioagent, like I said. She refused. One of them shot her, but didn't kill her. The leader stated he would tear our resting place apart and kill us all if she didn't surrender it. She gave it to them in a way they _really_ didn't like." At that, the armored woman actually winced. "Yeah, she broke it in her hand."

At that, _everyone_ in the _clearing_ winced.

"But..." Milodi shook her head. "Your Mother would have been in armor. Would that have-? Oh no..." She broke off and started to cry. "No!"

"Her armor was compromised and she knew she wouldn't survive. I watched her die just before I went to sleep." Mark shook his head. "So no, X-Com. There is zero chance of me ever trusting you or anyone in your uniform."

Calm. Cool. Matter of fact. Utterly inflexible.

"That is understandable." The woman replied and Mark eyed her. "You think we do not know hate? Revenge?" She slowly shook her head and lowered her weapon finally. "This is new information. I was briefed on you and your nest and no, we wouldn't simply kill you out of hand." Mark did not move and she sighed. "Look, this is new territory for a lot of us, so, just… Let me speak, okay?"

"Can't stop you." Mark replied.

"My name is Kelly." The woman said slowly. "My rank is Colonel and I lead one of X-Com's field teams." Mark did not react and she continued. "Two years ago, we did not have any teams in this area. Are you sure they were X-Com?"

"They wore the same symbol you do and carried odd weapons, unlike any I have seen in human hands before." Mark replied, still not giving and inch.

"Were they in armor?" The colonel asked, concern rising.

"They were." Mark allowed.

"Can I see one?" The woman asked.

"How do I know you won't kill us all as soon as you get close?" Mark demanded quietly.

"I could kill all five of you in that room right now with a word." The woman admitted. Mark did not react to her admission and she shook her head. "We didn't know if there was contagion, so we came prepared to sterilize if needed. We have a high yield plasma warhead rocket aimed at the entrance."

Such a weapon would burn even the Elders' nasty bioagent to nothing. What it would do to Mark and his people did not bear mentioning. It might even breach the doors if it was big enough and kill everyone inside. People in the clearing _might_ survive if they could run fast enough and find solid cover fast enough. Doubtful. If he knew anything about X-Com, they were unlikely to err on the side of 'small'.

"Smart." Mark allowed even thought the mere thought was chilling. "Against some things, there is no overkill." She nodded. "That is why Mother refused to give up the sample." He slumped a little. His weapon didn't move. "She knew whoever they were, they would be tempted to use it and nothing good could come of such."

"Damn. I wish I could have met her." The woman's frank words surprised Mark and she smiled a bit grimly. "Not something I generally say about Mutons, but her? I wish I had."

"You would have either liked each other on sight or tried to kill each other." Milodi said quietly, not relaxing. "Maybe both, you crazy woman. Mark, we can help." She pleaded. Mark did not reply, the Colonel did.

"He cannot trust you, Priestess." The X-Com soldier said slowly. "What little I know about what he and his went through says that _maybe_ the Lady can earn his trust? Maybe not. If so, it will take time. There is zero chance of him ever blindly trusting anyone who served the Elders. And if _our_ people or someone pretending to be such demanded the weapon in such a way that his mother killed _herself_ to keep it out of their hands?" She heaved a sigh. "I think we are screwed here, Priestess."

"Priest- _ess_?" Mark inquired, dragging the word out to two syllables.

"We were lost. I was lost." Milodi said quietly. "When the Elders fell, many of their servants and slaves had no idea what to do. Some fell back on routine, working, guarding, other things. Whatever they had done before, they do now. Some vanished, dead or simply in hiding, we do not know." She smiled a bit forlornly. "Some found new things to do. I had been hurt very badly and before I recovered, the Elders fell. It was a shock."

"I bet." A hint of sympathy entered Mark's tone and he stepped on that, hard.

"The Lady came and talked to me. I asked to serve her as I had served the Elders and her response was _rather rude._ " Milodi winced in memory and Mark felt a smile curl his own face as the Colonel smirked. "She told me to find my own way. I didn't want to go on, but I have lost too many friends to simply give up. It would cheapen their sacrifice. I now work as a counselor and mediator. A bridge between humanity and the remnants of the Elders forces. Some of us revere an old deity now, the Earth Mother. I found I liked that path and I serve the population of Earth in its entirety now."

"Noble." Mark meant that and she smiled a little.

"Mark, we need confirmation that it is gone." Milodi said softly. "If you really want to go your own way, and I find I cannot blame you for that, much as it pains me to say that,..." She admitted. "...then we will let you. There is far too much to do, trying to repair, reclaim, or just _fix_ things to dither when we are at an impasse. There are far too many dead already to see more fall needlessly. We could certainly use you, but we have no right to press you."

"I need to see the bodies." The Colonel said slowly. "Where are they?" Mark just looked at her and she slowly shook her head. "No, I am not asking trust."

Mark's eyes narrowed as she slowly bent down and laid her shotgun on the ground. His eyes widened as she undid a harness of some kind and her sword followed it. Then her equipment belt with its pouches and grenades followed _that!_ Knives and other things joined the growing pile. He had recovered his poise by the time she rose and stepped away from the sizeable pile of assorted deadliness.

" _Colonel!_ " Someone protested from outside.

"Button that lip, Feedback! He wouldn't let anyone else do it!" Kelly snapped as she looked at Mark. "Just so you know, that went very much against the grain." Mark did not react. "I was once an unwilling 'guest' in an Advent interrogation center."

"You got out." Mark wasn't sure if he was impressed or appalled. Maybe a bit of both. He took one step to the side and when no one shot him, another. She inclined her head to him as he flanked the door with Jack on the other side.

The armored woman started for the door, only to pause as Milodi moved to join her. "Oh, no, Priestess. You do _not_ go in." She held up a stiff arm to stop further progress.

"I am not under your command." Milodi said with a growl worthy of a Muton. She did not try to push the Colonel. She wasn't stupid.

"If you _were_ , I would drop you for push-ups." The Colonel said sourly and at least three people outside snickered. Both of the guards who had stayed where Milodi stood them looked amused as well. "But if there _is_ contagion in there, then that is what soldiers are for. Not Priestesses. I am not questioning your courage, but this is our job."

"Mother gave the ones she worked with the counter agent." Mark said slowly. " _You_ don't have it?" His appreciation for the woman's bravery -or insanity!- climbed as she shook her head. "We do."

"Oh, thank the Earth Mother!" Milodi slumped in sheer relief. "There haven't been any outbreaks, but we have all been in pins and needles worried about one."

"I saw what it does." Mark agreed. "We checked thoroughly. The room was totally sealed and there was zero emission. The nano virus had a life expectancy of one year, so Mother must have programmed the system to make us sleep for _two_. Not sure when. We swept four times and found no sign of any active agent." He slowly shook his head. "Jack, is the pack with medical gear still where we put it?"

"It is." Jack allowed from his post by the other side of the door. "You want it?"

"It has ten doses of counter agent in it. Get it." Mark didn't take his eyes off the Colonel as Jack moved slowly backwards, weapon still at the ready. Even unarmed, the X-Com soldier was likely the most dangerous person present, discounting Milodi's psy abilities. "I don't like you. I don't trust you. But Mother intended to render that weapon completely useless."

"Both to keep you from harm _and_ to spite the Elders." The Colonel actually smiled. "Damn. I _really_ wish I had met her now."

"Still sealed, Mark." Jack called from behind Mark. "Where?"

"Give it to Milodi." Mark said with a nod. Milodi stared at him as Jack moved forward, bag in one hand, weapon in the other. "We don't have a lot of records. But what we have are there. We figured we would have to tell _someone_. Or we would leave it and let whoever found this place when we left take it. We copied disposal records of thirteen organic devices of Elder origin. Incinerated in a high yield plasma furnace. Same temperature as that warhead would produce probably. Those could be faked." He admitted.

"Why would you?" Milodi sounded shocked, but the Colonel nodded.

"Fear." The soldier gave Mark a look of pure understanding. "Deterrence works best with fear. What we don't know is always more terrifying than what we do. Not that _you_ would, but many do not know you. I believe you. Thirteen destroyed and one deployed and expired. Fourteen."

"Seven bio-agent samples, seven triggers removed form our persons." Mark agreed. "And I hope to _God_ they didn't keep any extra just lying around."

"You and me _both_." The Colonel stepped past Jack as he moved to Milodi. "Special weapons are no joke at all. You have more counter agent?"

"We have an automated foundry cranking out more. Last count I saw had us at almost a thousand doses." Mark reassured her. "We don't have records of the agent itself, thank god. I was told it _might_ be possible to reverse engineer the counter." He warned.

"99.99% of the people on Earth won't ever have the capability to reverse engineer nanotechnology. Those who do or will? They know _better_ than to _play_ with such things." It was the Colonel's turn to reassure him as she moved past him and into the room. He tracked her with his weapon, but she didn't even twitch as she saw Aroa and Ana also aiming at her. Cable still lay back by the entrance to the vault, his rifle aimed. "The Priestess told me how well trained you people were. Wasn't sure I believed her."

"We worked hard to stay under the radar." Mark allowed and the Colonel nodded. She moved to the line of body bags without any hint of discomfort. Aroa didn't move from her position nearby, but she did tense as the woman knelt down by one bag and opened it.

The horror within would have made just about any human lose their lunch. Colonel Kelly just nodded.

"Nasty way to go." The Colonel said softly. She looked at Aroa and nodded. "You have my sympathy for the loss of your Mother in such an ignoble way." The Viper did not react and the Colonel actually smiled again. "I _like_ working with professionals."

"With all due respect, Colonel Kelly..." Milodi said sternly from where Jack had handed her the bag and was now retreating. "We all _know_ you are nuts. You don't need to _prove_ it every _minute_ of every _day!_ "

"Temp- _er._ " The colonel caroled as she examined the body. Then she shook her head. "No ID?"

"Nothing." Mark agreed. "Wasn't sure if that was protocol."

"We are not huge on carrying lots of things that we cannot use. Advent bio-metric scans made most other forms of ID useless. Most of us carry knickknacks, personal mementos, that kind of thing. Rank insignia or name badges would be subdued or hidden while in the field. This guy has nothing? Odd." The Colonel allowed. "And... This? No. I don't know this armor. This _isn't_ ours."

"Then what is _that?_ " Mark nodded at the X-Com symbol etched onto one shoulder. The Colonel stared at it and then seemed to wilt a little.

"A big problem." The woman seemed at a loss for words.

"Damn you, Vahlen! What have you done _now?_ "


	15. Chapter 15

**Hate and Love**

"Vahlen."

Mark knew the name, but did not know the person. The troops who had kidnapped him from the hospital had mentioned the name. The troops who had accosted and shot his mother had also mentioned the same name. He slowly shook his head.

"I have heard the name." Mark said quietly. Colonel Kelly shook her head and stood up slowly, very aware of the multiple weapons aimed at her. She looked from the sniper to the Vipers, to Jack and then to Mark. "But I don't know anyone named Vahlen."

"Maybe you don't." Colonel Kelly said softly. "But your Mother did."

"Mother was looking for ways to get us free of the Elders control." Mark replied as Colonel Kelly started for the entrance again. "I don't know if she was desperate or not, but this is hardly the first time allies of convenience have turned on each other. She wasn't able to remove the implants herself, so she found a way to do so." He shrugged. "That said, what I saw of this Vahlen's minions doesn't strike me as the troops of a decent, law abiding sort. What I saw of her soldiers seemed to be more 'thug' than 'professional'."

"Wouldn't surprise me in the slightest." Kelly moved to the door and nodded to someone outside before turning back to Mark. "She has broken just about every law and ethic I can think of. Desperate times may call for desperate actions, but she went way too far." Mark eyed her and she shrugged. "Yeah, coming from me, that is saying something, but I have my own grudge with her."

"If I may ask, what did she do?" Mark inquired carefully.

"She is the reason I was captured by Advent." The Colonel said with a growl.

"Oh." Mark shook his head. No wonder the woman was angry. "I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but if we get a shot at her, we are taking it. For our Mother."

"I hope you don't take _this_ the wrong way. _Don't_ _miss_." Colonel Kelly said savagely. Mark nodded. "That bitch is _directly_ responsible for the deaths of two of my men and a damn fine woman being confined to wheelchair for the rest of her life."

"What the hell did she do?" Jack was broken out of discipline by the sheer rage in the woman's voice. Mark glared at him and the team scout sank back to stillness.

"She played God." Colonel Kelly said sourly. "I never met her either, but she is supposedly a genius when it comes to anything biological."

"From your words, she is not affiliated with you. So why are her goons claiming to be X-Com and wearing the symbol?" Mark asked slowly.

"She was. Once." Kelly shook her head. "Back when the Elders came, she was one of the few survivors to escape when the Elders hit the base." She snorted. "Here, actually." Mark didn't react and Colonel Kelly shook her head. "Relax. You are right. We have no claim now. This place was wrecked and abandoned. The fact that _any_ of it has been rebuilt is a testament to your mother's ingenuity." She shook her head. "I don't even know her name."

"Few outside of her clan do." Mark replied. "It is a Muton thing. They don't talk much to outsiders."

"Fair enough. My bosses are going to ask, so I need to." The woman looked at the line of body bags. "Can we take the bodies? Maybe we can determine something from them."

"We don't want them rotting in here." Mark allowed. "That said, is there anywhere nearby where you could land a transport?"

"We don't need no stinkin' landing." Mark stared at the Colonel spoke in an odd voice for a moment. She shook her head. "Sorry, old movie reference."

"You are wearing a badge." Mark replied and it was the Colonel's turn to stare at him.

"You know the reference." The Colonel said slowly. Mark nodded. "I… see."

"Our job was originally supposed to be communication, so we learned everything we could about humanity and other races." Mark shrugged. "Our mission changed to more pro-active about ten years ago, but until then? If there is a human movie I haven't seen at least once, I would be shocked. Shocked."

"You did _not_ just quote 'Casablanca' at me." The Colonel had an incredibly good poker face but Mark could see from her body language that she was amused.

"Be glad Karina is not here. She is the anime nut." Mark shuddered. "If I _never_ see another porn-disguised-as-cartoon it will far too soon. She could talk your ear off for _hours_."

"Useful for blending in, I assume." The Colonel obviously wasn't sure about this at all.

"She took it a little far." Mark allowed. "You know, we tried not to hurt people. What Advent ordered us to do was distasteful, but on our last mission, there was a pregnant girl who had advanced pneumonia. We wanted to save her."

"To live out her life in an Advent cage?" The Colonel demanded.

"If it is a choice between a cage and _dying_ , many people would choose the cage." Mark replied. "Don't even try to argue that. I have seen the best humanity can offer and the worst. Often in the same places."

"Me too." The Colonel deflated a little. "I am not going to say I approve of what you did. I don't. But… I have seen some Advent files on you and the others. Up until the last mission, you really worked hard not to kill people."

"It would have been much easier if we had simply been there to kill." Mark replied. "But it wasn't the mission."

"And if your Mother had ordered you to kill everyone in that camp?" The Colonel asked. Mark just looked at her and she nodded. "You are not going to trust me, and I wish it were going to be otherwise. I _do_ like working with professionals."

"Colonel!" Milodi said from outside. "What is happening?"

"Bodies are a mess, but no contagion." The colonel replied loudly enough to be heard outside. Mark looked at her and she held up her wrist. A small green thing shone on it. "Chem and bio weapon detector."

"Don't tell me people have _used_ those recently!" Mark said sourly. He had been trained in how to deal with such sites left over from before the Elders came and during the conflict, but it hadn't been pretty.

"Not recently but some effects will linger for centuries." The Colonel reassured him as she strode for the door. She blocked it just as Milodi tried to enter. "No, Priestess. He is right. This place was abandoned. His mother claimed it. He and his nest have ownership. This is _their_ property, not _mine_. You want in? You ask him. He is not hostile, he is protecting his family."

"Mark, please?" Milodi begged, her face a mix of emotions. "I need to talk to you."

"So talk." Mark said sternly. The hybrid jerked and then nodded slowly.

"You know that none of you can reproduce." Milodi said softly. The Colonel jerked, but her face remained impassive. "You are all incredible, irreplaceable resources. You have more knowledge of more things human in your _heads_ than most archives could boast."

"And?" Mark asked, trying to project boredom. From the Colonel's expression, he didn't quite succeed.

"There are many groups on Earth now, Mark." Milodi said softly. "When the Elders fell, some of their troops went berserk. Others disappeared. Some forted up and refuse to talk to anyone."

"Hard to blame them. That idea is seriously tempting." Mark countered. "What does that have to do with us?"

"We lost track of Oshina after the fall." Milodi bit her lip. "We found him again, but then lost him again."

"Wait." The Colonel interjected. "Oshina? As in _Patriarch_ Oshina? The _Muton_ leader?" Mark did not react but Milodi nodded. "Oh dear."

"He made a mess, didn't he?" Mark inquired mildly. Both the females turned to look at him and he shrugged. "He _must_ have for both of you to react this way."

"One of the Elders' generals decided to take human hostages and use them as a living shield to keep X-Com from attacking him. It worked. The Colonel's superiors didn't want to chance an assault so they laid siege." Milodi said slowly. Mark stared at her in horror and she made a face. "About a thousand humans were in there, all told. The conditions were horrific. Details are sketchy, but we know the Advent forces ran out of food in the compound within a week."

"Oh no." Mark shuddered and he wasn't alone. "Tell me this isn't going where I _think_ it is going."

"I was there. We heard a commotion and thought the worst. He had said he would kill humans if we didn't leave. My commanders ordered an immediate assault and there was _no_ resistance. When we breached the gates,..." The X-Com soldier said softly. "We found most of the humans in pens, almost all of them still alive. A few had been killed and butchered. Apparently… Patriarch Oshina had been in the compound and took offense at that." Mark winced and she nodded. "It was a bloodbath. The Advent forces didn't have a chance when the Mutons turned on them. We found two hundred bodies. Most in _pieces_."

"Yeah, Mutons don't talk and obey orders, so they have to be stupid." Mark said sourly. "Yeah, right. And then…?" He inquired.

"He disappeared." The Colonel's voice held respect now. "Right under our noses, he slipped away. Almost a year ago, he vanished out of that compound with at least fifty Mutons and an unknown number of others, including at least a hundred and forty humans." Mark looked at her and she shook her head. "We haven't seen signs of many Mutons since."

"You wouldn't." Mark allowed. "With the Elders and Mother gone, he leads the clan and any other clans will look to him for advice or guidance."

"Do they fight among themselves?" Kelly asked, seeming honestly curious.

"They do." Mark admitted. "But for those conflicts, it is always highly regimented and all protocols are observed. _Anyone_ violating said protocols has to face every single member assembled." Every member of the nest who was present winced a that along with Mark. They remembered. "They have _no_ sense of humor about such."

"I wasn't aware they had a sense of humor at all." The Colonel mused, only to have both Milodi and Mark glare at her. "Hey!" She protested. "I am not a diplomat." She shook her head. "My bosses will want the cadavers. I need to organize transport and get that rocket dismantled since there is no contagion for it to fry."

"Please do." Mark replied, not moving. She nodded to him and strode out into the clearing where she started barking orders. Mark tuned her out to focus on the Priestess. "Why do you want us?"

"Oshina leads what is probably the most disciplined fighting force currently on planet and almost certainly one of the most powerful." Milodi said softly. "We know of two others clans that vanished at the same time. We don't know that they joined him..." She trailed off as Mark made a soft noise of amusement. "Okay, it is a fairly good guess."

"How many Mutons on planet?" Mark inquired.

"No one knows." Milodi sighed deeply. "You know how little they talk to outsiders." Against his will, Mark nodded. "But you are not outsiders. Your Mother adopted you."

"It doesn't work like that." Mark said automatically. He could feel the tension in the others around the room. Some things would never be spoken. Milodi looked at him and he shook his head savagely. "I can't talk about it."

"Would Oshina kill those humans?" Milodi asked.

"I am going to go out on a limb here and say most of them were not adults. Any that _were_ adult had kids in tow." Mark said slowly. Milodi stared at him and then nodded. "Then no. He may not be gentle. He may not treat them as humans might, but he won't kill them and anyone _else_ who tries will regret it very briefly."

"Why would he _take_ humans?" Milodi asked. "It makes no sense."

"I don't know." Mark fought hard to stay calm. "I wasn't there, so I cannot know."

"Are you going to look for him?" Milodi asked, all but begging. Mark did not reply and she sighed. "I know. I know you cannot trust. I serve the Lady, but you cannot trust her either. Mark? We need you. There are odd things happening across the planet now. Things are moving in the oceans that we have no names for. Things that the Elders did not create or bring."

Again, Mark did not react and the Priestess wilted.

"He won't talk to you." The Colonel's voice sounded from outside and Mark saw she had picked up her weaponry. "Transport is inbound. I have two mechs to carry four of the bodies. I will carry the fifth."

"Fair enough." Mark frankly stared as two hulking robotic forms stepped into the clearing. Both held huge cannon as easily as Mark hefted his own rifle. The many sided balls that were hovering near each were nearly inconsequential compared to the massive hunks of metal.

"Duke, Nomad, sling weapons." The colonel commanded as she slid her shotgun onto her hip. She released it and it hung there, held in place somehow. In unison, both mechs rotated the arms holding the cannon to their backs and the cannon clicked into place there. "May we enter?"

"Come ahead." Mark wasn't sure of the round in his weapon would even dent the mechs. He didn't think he wanted to find out. He jerked as Cable's voice from behind him.

"Are those _plasma cannon?_ " The sniper sounded envious.

"We were not sure what we would need to burn." Colonel Kelly stepped forward only to pause as three voices chorused. Jack, Aroa and Ana all spoke in unison.

'Ominous Hum!'

"Guys!" Mark snapped as Milodi stared at him. Then her jaw dropped as Colonel Kelly _laughed!_ All eyes were on the X-Com soldier as she laughed so hard tears started falling.

" _Oh! My! God!_ " She managed between her peal of laughter. " _Schlock Mercenary?_ Here?" She demanded as she fought for control and managed quickly. "How the _hell_ did you manage that?"

"Like I said." Mark shrugged even as Milodi stared from him the still chuckling Colonel and back. "We studied a lot of stuff. Humor may be hard to translate, but there are some things that translate just fine. I was always fond of 43. 'If it's stupid and it works, it's still stupid and you're lucky'."

"The Seventy Maxims of Maximally Effective Mercenaries? No!" The Colonel started laughing again and raised a hand. "Stop! Stop!" She begged but she was laughing so hard, no paid her any mind.

"64. An ounce of sniper is worth a pound of suppressing fire." Cable chimed in. The Colonel was holding her belly as laughs came from other places outside.

"68. Negotiating from a position of strength does not mean you shouldn't also negotiate from a position near the exits." Jack added and even Milodi was smiling a bit hesitantly now.

"50. If it only works in exactly the way the manufacturer intended, it is defective." Ana said with a wide smirk. Not to be outdone, Aroa spoke up.

"34. If you're leaving scorch-marks, you need a bigger gun." Aroa's smirk was just as wide as Ana's.

"Oh my fucking god!" _Everyone_ was grinning except the mechs as the Colonel straightened up and shook her head. "Schlock. Oh my _god_ it has been a long time since I laughed that hard." She sighed and then smirked. "My favorite is 15. Only you can prevent friendly fire."

Mark smiled at her and she returned his smile. They understood each other just fine. Trust might not happen, but they did understand one another. There were worse things.

"What was _that_ all about?" Milodi demanded, her face a mix of horror, amusement and bewilderment. She was smiling, but it was half scared. Mark nodded to her, schooling his features.

"Before the Elders came, the human computer link called the Internet was awash with creativity." Mark explained as the mechs moved into pick up the bodies. The colonel did likewise, but her face was still flushed and she was wearing a goofy grin that was fading slowly. "Much of that was lost and frankly? Some of what was recovered wasn't that great." He shuddered. "Don't say it." He begged the Colonel whose grin had widened.

"What? 'Ship'?" The soldier's smile faded a bit as he groaned and put a hand to his face. "She made you read _those_?"

"We had to read at least a little bit from _everything_. Including some really _bad_ stuff that _couldn't_ have ever seen an editor. The Twilight crossovers were the worst. So many and so _bad_." Mark said sourly. The Colonel grimaced and he nodded. "Yeah. I am not a big fan of destroying information, but there are works that shouldn't _ever_ see the light of day again."

"Ouch." The Colonel sighed. "Ah well, Schlock was good. With so many dead, we needed humor, even black humor, just to stay as sane as we did."

"Yeah, when the internet went down, only the secure archives survived and that is incomplete." Mark slumped a bit. "So much lost. Our job was to communicate, so we learned everything we could."

"And you just communicated with me." The Colonel said with a nod. Mark looked at her and she shook her head. "You just explained to me, in very few words, how much of a crime it would be to lose you all." Mark did not react as Milodi stared at the hardened X-Com warrior. "What was done to you was horrible and you will not trust anyone as a result. I cannot blame you. But I _can_ hope we never find ourselves pointing weapons at each other with intent again."

The mechs had lifted their burdens and gone. Colonel Kelly picked up the last body bag and left the entrance without further word.

"Me too." Mark said in a very small voice after she was gone. Milodi looked at him with pleading eyes but he shook his head. "We will be in touch."

"Mark… I am sorry." Milodi said sadly.

"So am I."

Then she as gone. A rumble in the distance heralded some kind of transport hovering over the clearing. The mechs activated some kind of rocket boost and leaped away. He watched as figures in armor stepped out of the woods to grab lines that came down from above. They were pulled up out of his sight. Milodi strode to where they had been and grabbed a line herself, The two soldiers with her nodding to Mark before doing the same.

"Think they will come back?" Jack asked.

"No." Mark said softly. "That woman is a professional. She _knows_ we have a fail-safe. She won't try us again without direct orders and if she is ordered to? She will do her _damnedest_ to keep from losing any men. She wasn't faking her anger at her losses. We won't face her again. Maybe mechs or long range fire if she has it. So, we go careful."

"I thought you were going to trigger it when she appeared." Ana said weakly.

"Almost did when I saw the symbol." Mark shrugged. "Glad I didn't."

Mother hadn't had access to WMDs except the bio-agent inside her kids. The large charges of conventional explosives hidden all _over_ the facility in _every single room_ would do _almost_ as much damage as a nuke.

Some secrets _would_ be kept.

"Let's go." Mark said softly as he hefted his rifle.

"We need to find Oshina."

* * *

 **Schlock Mercenary is the work of Howard Taylor and in no way my work. Be ready to laugh HARD.  
**


	16. Chapter 16

**Scraps**

" _Holy..._ "

The trip to the hangar had been remarkably anti-climactic. Then again, it was hard to imagine just how crazy things might have to go to top what had happened at the entrance. The terrain was rough enough that the Vipers had taken to tree branches on several occasions to avoid some of the nastier spots that the humans had to slog through. They would have stayed with their companions, but Mark had asked them to keep an eye out so they did as instructed. Everyone knew he said that to keep them from potentially hurting themselves on the rock of the ravine that they were struggling through.

The hangar was just as well hidden as the main entrance had been and now covered by twenty plus years worth of overgrowth but the door was exactly where it had been marked on the map. The power still worked here too. The same code that had opened the door of the main base had opened the door here and turned on the lights. They had strode into wonder.

The hangar was huge and it was _packed_.

Mark was cataloging vehicles as he had been taught as his team moved to check the area. An Advent armored APC sat in front of everything, but from the look of it? It wasn't going anywhere. The hole blasted in the side had to have come from a human missile or armored fighting vehicle. It looked as if it had been stripped for parts. The human four wheel drive truck behind it had also been stripped for parts. That didn't make any sense. Why would _Advent_ strip parts when they could make new ones fairly easily? He kicked himself. Of course Advent hadn't done this! _Mother_ and her _allies_ had. Probably they had been scouring battlefields to gather whatever scrap they could find to use.

He shook his head as he strode into the hangar, his team fanning out and calling it clear. He saw human aircraft in pieces, some damaged by fighting, others seeming pristine. He saw three Advent ground cars, two of which looked remarkably intact.

"None of this is getting out of here through that door." He muttered. Even if he could get any of these vehicles to work, none of them could possibly travel to the base. Even the wrecked human tank he saw would have trouble going the way they had come. Of course, since that was missing an entire _tread_ , the point was moot. Maybe a human helicopter? He knew those were hard to fly. He had tried one in a simulator and managed to crash and burn spectacularly. Also, if it had been sitting since the Elders came, it would likely not be in working order.

"Lead?" Cable called from the left side of the hangar. "Got something weird here."

Mark swung that way, his rifle ready. So far, they hadn't even seen any sign of anything alive, not even vermin. That was good. The Vipers might like the snacks, but the humans would not appreciate the smells and possible diseases they brought.

As Mark approached Cable's position he noticed a cleared area and what looked like doors. He nodded to them.

"Anyone check for controls to the doors?"

"Checking now." Ana called, her voice distracted.

Mark strode up to where the team sniper was staring at an odd looking vehicle. It was human metal, but it wasn't like any human craft Mark had ever seen. It had wings, so it was clearly designed to fly. But it had none of the usual control surfaces like all the human aircraft that Mark had ever seen. He looked and it didn't seem to have flaps on the wings. So, not human tech. He shook his head.

"Weird is right." Mark allowed. "It looks almost alien, but this isn't Elder alloys." He touched the hull and then backed up quickly when the ship gave a whine and a hatch opened. On the front? It looked like a _door_? He wasn't stupid, he didn't move towards it.

"Still powered after all this time." Cable said softly. "No _way_ that is human tech."

"No." Mark agreed. "Anything else odd?" He called.

"Lots of junk." Jack called from the other side of the hangar. "Most of it from the war. Almost all of it has been stripped."

"Aroa?" Mark queried.

"I found _something_ behind the ship." Aroa slithered into view from the back of the ship. "It looks like Elder tech, but I have no idea what it is." She shook her head.

"You didn't _touch_ it, did you." Cable demanded, worry for Jack's companion rising. Aroa favored him with a long look and he winced. "Sorry."

"She is not stupid, Cable." Mark said to appease the unhappy Viper. "And Aroa? He thought he had _lost_ Ana, even found a _body_. Cut him a little slack?" He asked and the Viper nodded, her expression easing. "Where?"

The Viper led the way behind the ship to where a small device sat on the floor of the hangar. The Viper looked confused and Cable likewise. Mark slowly shook his head.

"I knew Mother and her people had to be good to get all this, get it here and set this all up without being detected, but _that?_ " He bent down to examine the thing and it flashed as he closed with it. "Damn, keyed to me."

"Mark." Cable and Aroa both grabbed his arms and pulled him back.

"Don't! Alley would flay us!" Cable held the team lead as he eyed the device. "What the hell is it?"

"That..." Mark didn't bother to fight them. They had leverage and they fought just as dirty as he did. "...looks very much like a quantum entanglement communicator."

"A _what?_ " Cable's face slacked, but Aroa perked up.

"You mean a com device that is quantum linked to another? Undetectable, unable to be blocked or even detected." Aroa asked carefully. Mark nodded and she smiled. "All those hours of listening to Alina's and Adika's blather are paying off." Mark had to admit the computer tech and communication tech had been known to discuss things for long periods, but still...

"Cross training is rarely a bad thing." Mark said mildly enough that Aroa winced. "They came in pairs and were very rare, but I saw one set in team lead training. I never expected to see one _here_. Those were top of the line Elder equipment and they didn't hand those out on a whim. Basically, they were for people who couldn't use psionics."

"Like us." Cable breathed and Mark nodded. "Mark..." He warned as Mark shrugged free of the now slack hands that held him.

"If it is keyed to me, then I am the only one who can use it." Mark said slowly. "But I don't know why it would be keyed to me."

"Yes, you do. You are Team Leader." An unexpected voice had all three of them recoiling. "Touch it, Mark."

They knew the voice. They had known it for human decades. It would be obeyed. Mark was touching the device before anyone could think to stop him. Not that they would. He stared as a small hologram appeared over the device. Oshina looked like hell. His armor was rent and torn, but he wasn't bleeding, so that was a good thing. It looked like it had been repaired with what looked for all the world like human duct tape!

"Oshina." Mark breathed. Then he bowed his head. "I failed our Mother."

"I know." Oshina said softly. " _Just_ before she died, she sent a burst transmission that she must have prepared beforehand to me. In it, she explained everything. She also told me where to find the mate to that device. I have carried it ever since." The Muton shook his head. "I didn't know all of what they did to you, Mark."

"They wouldn't have told you." Mark said firmly. "If they _had?_ You would have killed us. Such weapons are dishonorable in the extreme."

"That pales beside the pain you all endured, Mark. What you went through would have killed many Mutons." Oshina's tone was factual. He wasn't gentle. He didn't _do_ gentle. "You know what she declared you. I uphold her ruling. You are kin and more. She called you and yours..."

He spoke a word in the Muton language. A word that had no direct human translation. The closest word in English would be 'Mine'. When Milodi had said Mother had adopted them, she hadn't known what she was talking about. _Had_ she?

Mark staggered and would have fallen, except Cable and Aroa held him up.

"I am not a Muton." Mark said weakly. " _We_ are not Mutons. We cannot never _be_ Mutons."

"Are you questioning my orders?" Oshina asked, a strange glint in his eyes.

"No." Mark said quickly. He might be shaken, he wasn't stupid. "I feel unworthy of such." Cable and Aroa nodded. He saw Ana and Jack approach and freeze on seeing the Muton in the hologram.

"Good." Oshina growled. "Because the clan needs you."

"Command us!" Mark and the others chorused in the Muton language. It should have been ludicrous, three humans and two snake women speaking such. It wasn't.

"You will gather your nest and meet us at coordinates I will provide." Oshina said firmly. "Mother planned well. The sole operational vehicle is one that you can pilot. The rest are good for raw materials and not much else. None of you will touch the device inside the vehicle." Mark stiffened even as he nodded. He hadn't looked inside yet. Now, he was glad he hadn't if what he _suspected_ was true. Oshina nodded to him. "You explored the facility. You saw the other one, didn't you?"

"I did." Mark said flatly. "Clan Leader, is that the _only_ way?" He wasn't begging, not quite.

"I hope not." Oshina actually looked tired for a moment. "I have spent the last year trying to find another way. I _did_ find people who are willing to try new paths. Who are willing to take the risks. We need Marina to run the device though."

"She will _not_ be happy." Mark said weakly. "It was all I could do to stop her from breaking the one we found. I had to code lock the room to keep her from getting in and even then? She might find a way with Alina's help."

"I know, and I actually _agree_ that such should be destroyed." Oshina said with a sigh. "But you know how few we _were_. We are fewer _now_. We have so very few options. Fewer still that are honorable."

"I..." Mark bowed his head. "You sheltered us. Mother sheltered us. We owe you our lives. But what of our _souls_ , Clan Leader?"

"I give you my word, which I have never broken, that I will _die_ before I let anyone face such unwillingly." Oshina said with a growl. "The humans must _never_ be allowed to touch those devices. The human Vahlen in particular." Mark growled and the others echoed him.

"Does she know about them?" Mark inquired. Oshina shook his head.

"If she had, she would have found a way to burrow or blast her way in to steal them." Oshina said with a growl of his own. "The horrors that would have awoken…" He shook his head. "Mark, give me your word. If it seems lost, if they _might_ fall into hostile hands, no matter the cost, _destroy_ them."

"You have it." Mark snapped automatically. "I… I do not want to do this, Clan Leader. But if the clan,...?" He slumped a bit. "Are there _no_ females remaining?"

"Only three." Oshina said quietly. "None fertile. The other clans are in the same shape we are."

A gasp came from Aroa as Mark bowed his head. Without females of the species to bear the young, the Mutons on Earth would die out. Slowly, but inexorably. They were warriors and had been brought to Earth to fight. There was no way to get back where they had come from without the Elders. Without extreme measures, they were doomed.

"Did she plan this all along?" Mark asked, greatly daring. "To use us as guards or collectors or whatever?"

"No." Wonder of wonders, Oshina's tone gentled. "No, she did what she could for you and as some humans say, 'you grew on her'. I know what I ask is horrible, Mark. Marina will not be the only one with qualms. I have them myself. But we are _not_ the Elders. We will _not_ abduct unsuspecting people to experiment on. We _will_ offer choice."

That was an oath.

"Vahlen wouldn't," Mark said softly. "Rules Of Engagement?"

"Safeguard your people." Oshina said firmly. "Avoid conflict where possible, but safeguard your people and the materials you will carry to us."

"We will not be able to carry everything." Mark was thinking fast. The clearing out in front of the entrance to the main base had _looked_ natural, but it was just about the right size to land this ship. Coincidence? He didn't think so.

"Leave what you cannot carry safely." Oshina replied. "Bring the ship, yourselves and whatever gear you think you must. Seal the base and leave the internal fail-safes online. If anyone tries to break in, they will only find rubble."

"There is a lot of gear here, including the counter for the bio-agent." Mark said weakly.

"What good does it do us if we are dead?" Oshina inquired. "Your Mother had that ship refitted with a fusion power core. It will not require refueling."

"I have never flown it, Clan Leader!" Mark protested carefully.

"Then don't break it or I will take it out of your pay." The holo clicked off and Mark stared at the others.

"I...um..." Mark winced. "I better see if it has a manual."

"We will see about getting the doors open." Cable sounded subdued and the other shared his feelings. "There there is stuff in the way..."

"Then we _move_ it." Mark said firmly. "We have our orders." The other nodded as he continued sourly.

"Even when we hate them."

* * *

Two hours later

" _ALL RIGHT!_ "

Cable's muffled exclamation from the troop bay was hardly disciplined, but Mark was not going to quibble as the massive landslide that had blocked the exterior of the entrance to the hangar simply vanished.

"Hardly covert but _definitely_ effective." Jack mentioned from where he sat behind Mark. The seat would have been a sensor operator probably. Odd though, the seat was far larger than normal human would need. "Good thing we are only leaving junk in here. A blind human would be able to find this place now."

"Oh, you know they were watching somehow." Mark said as he hit the master arm switch to deactivate the weapon he had used, a bit shaken by just powerful it was. "Satellites, drones, whatever. They were watching."

"And we just gave them an eyeful." Cable snickered along with Jack. "But now? I want a hand held version of that weapon."

"You _want_ your teeth shaken out on a regular basis?" Mark shook his head as Cable nodded, a huge grin on his face. "Crazy man."

Whatever a 'Sonic Oscillator' was, it was _definitely_ effective. It was also precise. Mark had simply laid the targeting cursor on the largest rock and hit the button to activate it. The rock had vanished along with the rest of the them in the area. He had planned to take at least three shots after reading the manual, but at this range? He hadn't need them. The missile system that was mounted in the other wing of the odd transport was far more recognizable to any student of military history. The only downside? His ears were still ringing. He didn't want to think what the Vipers had gone through with their far more sensitive hearing. Ordinarily, he wouldn't have eve tried it, but again, Mother had planned well. Jack had found noise canceling helmets, including some sized for Vipers, in the crew compartment. Mark paused. He had _still_ heard _something_ rattling his brains, so...

"Ana? Aroa?" Mark asked worried, when neither spoke. He turned to look at them in the troop bay and both looked badly shaken.

"That _hurt_." Ana said weakly. Aroa was curling up in her seat and Jack laid a hand on her. "That _really_ hurt."

"We will get you to Marina as fast as we can." Jack promised. He looked at Mark who nodded, focusing on his controls.

Said controls were similar to human aircraft that Mark had trained on in simulators, but at the same time, very different. The ship used a form of propulsion more like alien or Advent craft than most human designs. The fuel system was a fusion reactor and was likely good for centuries even at full power draw. Other than that? Everything else seemed to be familiar. As far as he could tell, everything was right. He slid the throttle forward slowly and the view ahead of them shifted. The craft had no canopy, so he assumed it was designed for operation in space, but if so, why use a _sonic_ weapon? Those wouldn't work in vacuum. No matter what? He could fly it. That was all that mattered now.

"Marina is going to _flip_." Cable said softly as he patted Ana's flank. The bay was small enough that they could reach each other. Jack was comforting Aroa as his companion cried.

Per orders, no one had touched the egg shaped _thing_ that sat on its own pallet at the end of the bay. Everyone had stayed away from it. It wasn't fragile, far from it. It was _creepy as hell_.

"Yeah, she is." Mark sighed as he keyed up the holographic map built into the head's up display and started for the base he had marked on the map earlier when he had been trying to figure out the human design. "I can't say I blame her. That is what the _Elders_ did to us and so many others."

"We have our orders and the communication device will let us talk to Oshina again if we need." Jack said softly. He wasn't happy about this either. "She may need his direct command."

"Yeah." Mark shook his head as he saw the distance they had covered so laboriously on the way the hangar flash by underneath the slow moving ship. "But if the alternative is _worse_ …? There are _few_ beings I would trust with such power. Oshina is one of them. He _did_ give his word. You know how he feels about that."

A _continent_ would shift before that stubborn Muton would.

"Agreed." Jack and Cable chorused.

Mark fought hard not to glance behind him. Instead, he eyed the clearing that was growing in the distance. It _might_ be big enough. Maybe. He wasn't going to fire the weapon again, not if it had hurt the Vipers so badly. They needed help and help was close. If he scratched the paint, he scratched the paint. Oshina wouldn't mind as long as he didn't completely destroy the craft.

Now, if only they didn't need the genetic re-sequencing and cloning device just as badly. The same kind of device the Elders had used to make their slaves. He didn't need to see inside to know it was filled with green nano-tech goo.

The kind of thing they had used to make _Mark_.


	17. Chapter 17

**Past and future**

"No!"

Marina was hardly the only one to stand defiant as Mark explained the situation, but she was easily the loudest. She had been very upset on finding out that Ana and Aroa were hurt. She had been more upset when she found out _how_ they had been hurt. Now?

The word 'upset' simply didn't do it _justice_.

Mark took a moment to look at where Ana and Aroa slept, but the noise canceling helmets they wore had been augmented by Ami's technical wizardry. Thank god, the two hadn't been badly hurt by the sound. It could have done far more damage to their delicate hearing apparatus. There really hadn't been any other way to clear that debris, but he promised himself he wouldn't fire that weapon again anywhere near _any_ of his companions if he could help it. Cable sat beside Ana and Jack beside Aroa, both studiously ignoring Marina's outburst. Ami stood by her companion, her own face as furious as Marina's. Jesse and Arisha looked confused. Everyone else looked wary.

"Mark." Alley slid up to Mark and stood up straight beside him. "You know how we feel. All of us. You feel the same way."

"I do." Mark nodded to Alley and she took his hand in both of hers. "If it were _**anyone**_..." He heavily emphasized the word. '...other than _Oshina_ , I would not say just 'No', but I would _scream_ ' _HELL NO!_ '." He slumped a bit. "Marina, I know what they did. What they made you help with. I helped Mother with you, after. We all did."

"They didn't have a choice!" Marina grated that out and Ami slid up to her. After a moment's consideration, she coiled gently around Marina, her head winding up on Marina's shoulder, comforting as only a Viper could. "They made me do it to people who didn't have a choice!"

"I _know_." Mark gave Alley's hands a squeeze and then stepped towards Marina. "You were always the oldest of us, but making you do _that?_ You were maybe _sixteen!_ Easer may have intended you to be a medical specialist, but _that?_ Even she would have balked from that and you _know_ it."

"Mark, I can't." Marina said weakly, her rage fading, leaving only sorrow. "I see them. I see them in my dreams! The men, the woman, the _kids!_ " Mark made a face and then pulled Marina into an embrace. She was crying hard as he held her and Ami. Alley joined the embrace, her own coils soothing. "I _can't!_ "

"Oh, Marina." Mark hugged his nest mate gently as she sobbed. Alley did something and her sobs quieted. Mark stiffened. "Alley!"

"Her pain is immense." Alley said sadly as she laid her head on Marina's other shoulder. "All I can do is mute it a bit."

"Thank you." Marina stroked Alley's head and then she stoked Ami's. "Both of you. _All_ of you. I..." She turned pleading eyes to Mark. "Mark, please!"

"Marina, I am not going to say I like the idea. I _don't_." Mark hugged her again. "Not at all. Even Oshina said he had qualms about this. But, Marina. How many female Mutons do you remember hearing about on planet in the clan besides Mother?"

"Besides Mother?" Marin asked, confused. She thought for a moment and then nodded. "Eighteen. Why?"

"Now the clan has _three_. All of them sterile." Mark was not surprised when everyone other than Cable and Jack reacted with horror. Marina's eyes went huge and he hugged her again. "You know the horror that can result first hand. We _all_ saw what those bastards did to you and Ami. We all helped you through that afterwards. You were not alone then and you are not alone now. Marina, if it were _anyone_ else asking or if the need _wasn't_ so great, I would be the _first_ to _shoot_ the evil things." He meant every word and she knew it.

"I know." Marina laid her head on his shoulder. "You care for us more than you care for yourself. They made you into the perfect leader with one of those _things._ Responsibility, honor, duty,… Oh my god, it hurts, Mark!"

"I know." Mark kept rubbing her head the same as he had always comforted Alley when she was distraught. "Thing is, Oshina's dilemma may have a bright side." Marina stared at him through streaming eyes and he smiled a bit grimly. "You were forced to help in that lab. You were forced to 'dispose' of the detritus, afterwards. You have nothing but foul and horrific memories of those machines. None of the rest of us remember them. None of us can hope to understand. Since they kept her confined, not even Ami, although she tries so hard."

"You cried every night when you came back to the bunk in our cell." Ami said weakly as she hugged Marina too. "I tried to help with your nightmares and I couldn't. I asked for help and they ignored me. When Mother came, she was appalled by what they had done and took us away. She tried to help too."

"She did." Marina was crying again. "You did. Everyone did. But I still see them. Some of them were awake, Mark! I couldn't stop myself once they put the collar on! _I couldn't stop!_ They made me throw living people into a recycler and I _couldn't stop!_ "

"Oh, Marina." Mark just held her as she cried. "They were not supposed to slave collar you for an _internship_. Mother was livid when she found out. She told me later than she _killed_ two of the doctors responsible." Marina perked up a bit at that and Mark shook his head with a grimace. "Do not anger Mother." He said in a monotone.

"No." Marina chuckled a bit wetly.

"Aroa is the closest thing we have to a psychologist." Mark looked at the slumbering Viper. Marina looked thunderous, but Mark continued. "And you don't need to be interrogated. You need help and none of us are capable of such. So all we can do is be here for you. We all know what happened. What happens now though?" He shook his head. "Oshina hated giving me those orders, Marina."

"But he gave them anyway." Marina muttered.

"Because he is Clan Leader now and has no choice if his clan is to survive." Mark shook his head but kept his arms around his still shuddering nest mate. "Your pain and fear are completely understandable. No one, not even Oshina, has denied them. Mother claimed us all. We are part of the clan. We must not fail them, Marina."

Ami and Alley hugged her tighter as she sobbed, still shaking her head. Alley looked at Arisha and nodded. The younger Viper looked unsure for a moment and then nodded back.

"Leader?" Arisha had slithered forward a little. ""I can help."

"Arisha?" Mark asked.

"I won't hurt her. I can calm her." Arisha said quietly. Jesse nodded when Mark looked at him.

"That is what she did for us, many times." Jesse said quietly. Then he grinned. "Kaa, Arisha?"

"You _know_ it." Arisha smiled as only a Viper could as Mark nodded. She slid up and then her tongue licked out, gently tickling Marina's chin. Ami made a noise of protest, but Mark hugged her and she relaxed, still trying to calm Marina.

"Hey!" Marina jerked up, but when her eyes came up, Arisha started to sing. Or hum. Or something. The words were _hissed_?

'Trust in me, just in me  
Shut your eyes, trust in me  
You can sleep safe and sound  
Knowing I am around'

Marina stared at the Viper and her eyes slowly lost their fearful cast. Her tears stopped and her face slackened just a little. She was staring at Arisha, so, she was conscious, but not all there. Arisha continued to sing in what was obviously a parody of snake speech, since Vipers didn't _need_ to speak in hisses. Everyone was staring at her as Marina slowly relaxed.

'Slip into silent slumber  
Sail on a silver mist  
Slowly and surely your senses  
Will cease to resist'

Arisha stopped singing and smiled again. "I think that is good enough? Alley?"

"Her mind is calm. Yeah, that is enough. Well done, nest mate." Alley nudged Marina's cheek with her head and Marina jerked a little. "Marina?"

"Wow." Marina had awe in her voice as she stared at Arisha. "Oh, nest mate, _thank you!_ " She reached out to Arisha who took her hand. "It swallows me up and I just can't _breathe!_ "

"I know." Arisha reassured her. "This close and with you so open to us, I can feel your mind. I know your pain and your fear. It hurts me too." Marina looked scared, but Arisha was quick to reassure her even as Alley hugged her again. "It is okay. I am okay. You need more help than I can give, but what comfort I _can_ give is yours, dear Marina. You have but to ask. Those evil scum won't touch you again. We won't _let_ _them_." The last was hard.

Every member of the nest who was conscious growled agreement at that.

"Seeing those things brings it all back." Marina said weakly. "The rage, the horror. All of it. Mark, I can't." She begged. "I _would_. I _do_ trust Oshina's word, but I _can't!_ I _don't_ know how to operate them! They never _taught_ me!"

"Oh shit." Mark said weakly as Marina nodded.

"Yeah, they were _supposed_ to, but they never _bothered_." Marina was crying again, but this time, more than a bit calmer. "I don't want to fail Mother!"

"You won't." Mark said flatly. "We will find another way. One that _doesn't_ involve you having to relive your past. I can't feel your pain, but I _do_ know it. I was there with the others when Mother brought you and Ami back to us. I was with you through your recovery. You know we stayed with you through it all."

"And Oshina guarded us." Marina said weakly. "I know. I know you fed me and cleaned me. I woke to see you all and him. I tried to get on with my life but it refuses to stay gone."

"We need to talk to a mental health professional." Mark said softly as he hugged Marina again. "We all have our quirks. Some worse than others. You are _easily_ the worst off of us all and it is _not your fault._ " He said savagely when she opened her mouth. She shut it with a click. "You and I need to talk to Oshina. Everyone else? Decide what to bring. Medical gear has priority."

Ami and Alley slowly uncoiled from Marina who gave each of them a pat. She reached out and pulled Arisha into a hug. "Thank you." She breathed into Arisha's ear hole.

"Anytime, nest mate." Arisha replied as she nuzzled Marian's cheek. Then she retreated as Marina released her.

"I am sorry, Mark." Marina said weakly as she turned her head to him again.

"Stop." Mark commanded. "Just stop. The past is past. Leave it there. We have work to do." He gave her one final hug and released her. She nodded.

"That we do." Marina said softly. "I will obey my orders."

Mark nodded to her and pulled out the communication device. It hummed in his hand and then a small holo of Oshina appeared over it. He was in armor, but wore no helmet. His face was grim. "Clan Leader, we have a complication."

"I know what it cost you. I would never ask such if the need were not so dire, Marina." Oshina said with a nod. Marina nodded back and spoke.

"I never learned how to use the machines." Marina didn't bother with pleasantries. They would be wasted on the Muton anyway. He didn't care for such things generally. "They never taught me how to operate them and there were no manuals that I ever saw."

"What?" Oshina actually sounded shocked and Mark quailed.

"I was just… labor." Marina said weakly and Mark took her in his arms again. "I was... just… carrying..."

"Marina! Stop!" Oshina commanded and Mark's nest mate nodded jerkily. "Those _idiots!_ "

"How many did Mother kill?" Mark inquired as Marina fought hard not to cry in front of her Clan Leader.

" _All_ of them eventually." Oshina replied instantly. Marina stared at him and the Muton smiled. It was not pleasant, that smile, but Marina relaxed a little. "It took some time since she did so in person with each and _dared_ the Elders to take offense. They refrained from doing so, oddly enough."

"Do not anger Mother." Marina chuckled weakly and Oshina chuckled with her.

"No." The Clan Leader agreed. "Bad idea. Damn, if you can't… We are doomed." He held up a hand when Marina opened her mouth. "And _no_ , you will _not_ experiment with them." That was final. "I _may_ _be_ Clan Leader and we _may_ _be_ in dire straits, but there _are_ limits. You have suffered _enough_. You spent _six months_ in recovery, Marina. _No more_. You _will not_ be involved in whatever we do."

"Six… _months?_ " Marina said weakly. "I knew I lost time, but… _six?_ " She looked at Mark who nodded.

"Mother encouraged you to get on with your life, not to inquire." Mark reassured her gently. "You did."

"If the clan is in need, Clan Leader, I must aid." Marina begged.

"Not at the cost of your _soul_." Oshina snapped and that was that. No one would argue. No one smart, anyway. "We have a number of others here who _will_ need your help if we are not going to be here. Medical help in the traditional sense." He made a face. "And I thought _Muton_ reproduction was messy."

"I was told of an incident where some Advent upset you." Mark said slowly. "They said you took some humans."

"Ah, yes. That. Several human females had given birth in the pens and some of the troops inquired as to how human babies tasted. The General gave permission for his troops to satisfy their curiosity and I objected." Oshina said flatly. Mark and Marina both winced. "Our people may have a deserved reputation for fierceness in battle, but there are limits. They were prisoners, not combatants. And even Mutons do not eat our enemies unless we are berserk."

"Did you take his head?" Marina demanded. Oshina nodded. "I assume you mounted it properly?" He nodded again. "Good. Let _none_ question the Clan's honor."

"Many humans begged to come with us after we protected them and I explained we were leaving. We could not take them all, so we prioritized those in the most danger. With no way to reproduce, our clan will fail." Oshina said quietly. "Our fire will go out of the universe. Even your nest… None of _you_ can reproduce." Mark and Marina shook their heads. "And even if you _could_ fix whatever the Elders did, there is no way to know if offspring would survive."

"Clan Leader?" Mark said softly. "I may have an option, but it is potentially less than desirable."

"Speak." Oshina commanded.

"X-Com knows about the facility. They do not know what is in it or what it in our vehicle." Mark said flatly. "And they _won't_." Oshina nodded. "But when I was accosted by a team of them on leaving the facility, Priest Milodi appeared." Oshina's eyes narrowed. "She didn't seem to be with them, allied perhaps. They were all very worried about contagion and nothing else."

"As well they should be." Oshina snapped. "That weapon was horrific."

"Yes." Mark took a deep breath. "Thing is, I don't know if Mother's program woke us, but someone was there when Alley and I woke. Someone who _wasn't_ there. A psychic projection." Oshina's eyes narrowed further and Mark nodded. "She talked to us. Calmed us. Explained the situation. She said she worked with Easer a long, long time ago. She said she was one of the teachers that Easer brought in when the educators failed to work properly."

"Name?" Oshina demanded.

"The name you knew her by was fake. She said she used the name 'Helen Cooper'." Mark waited while Oshina thought hard. "I know not if she was telling the truth."

"I could barely tell humans apart in those days." Oshina admitted. "I never learned their names and there are no records. How does this help us?"

"She wasn't human." Mark said flatly and the Muton stared at him.

"Explain!" The Muton snapped.

"She knew us, all of us." Mark said quietly. "She knew things about us that not even the deepest psionic probe would have shown. Either she had access to Easer records, a worry in and of itself, or she _was_ really there."

"And you say she is not human." Oshina paused. "Wait.. _Cooper?_ " He demanded. "What happened?"

"She offered to help." Mark bowed his head. "She said she could not help us then. She _begged_ us to give her a second chance. We were newly free and clueless. Lost. Directionless. Some of us would have offered our service to her. I too admit the draw of such." Oshina did not react to that. "She refused those who offered." The Muton goggled at Mark. A first in the human's experience.

"Let me be sure I understand." Oshina said cautiously. " _Someone_ infiltrated Easer's lab all those years ago." Mark nodded. "And we never suspected."

"If you _had_ suspected, she would have made it seem inconsequential." Marina offered. "She is a very powerful psionic."

"Yes, she is." Oshina said slowly. "If anyone would know how to operate those, _she_ would or her people."

"She also has _no_ love for the Elders _or_ X-Com." Mark added.

"Considering she _nuked her own base_ to escape the Elders and then vanished?" Marina looked as shocked as Mark felt. The Muton actually winced. "No, she had no love for the Elders. Is she truly what rumor said?"

"I don't know the rumor." Mark said slowly and Oshina nodded, his face sour. " A _nuke?_ "

"I keep forgetting that you slept through all of that." Oshina was thinking hard. "Yes, a nuke. Apparently X-Com and the Elders _both_ sent forces to apprehend a rogue agent and found a _lot_ more than they bargained for. A nuclear blast covered her escape. Rumor said she was an Ethereal that was not affiliated with the Elders."

"That rumor is true." Mark said softly, remembered awe coloring his words. "She was… I have no words, Clan Leader."

"And she _refused_ your service." Oshina's voice was just as soft. "We have few options now. Maybe she can be trusted. Maybe not. But finding her will prove difficult. The Elders tried for years and lost many troops doing so. She guarded herself well even before she fled to wherever she hides now."

"I may not be able to find _her_ , but I _can_ find one of her agents." Mark nodded as Oshina's gaze narrowed onto him with laser like intensity. "Priest Milodi serves her now." He paused and corrected himself. " _Priestess_ , actually. She reveres an old Earth deity apparently but serves the Lady as well."

"And you know where _she_ is." Oshina said softly. Mark nodded.

"She said she is working in an Enlightenment Center. She told me which and where. She wanted to talk. To talk to us and to _you_. For herself and for her Lady, or both? I don't know. The problem..." He made a face as Oshina nodded in understanding. "I can get there, but it will not be covert. We are shorthanded, so will have go for 'shock and awe'. Aroa and Ana are down for the moment."

Oshina looked at Marina who nodded. "Collateral damage from a sonic weapon. They will be all right in a day or so as long as we don't have to fire the weapon again. Vipers and sonic weapons do _not_ mix." She glowered at Mark, but her heart wasn't really in it.

"No, they don't." Oshina shook his head. "So what do you want to do, Mark? You are the one who is in the gravest jeopardy there. Whatever you do, if you can do it without killing anyone, please do. I foresee all kinds of diplomatic headaches even without wholesale slaughter. How your Mother handled this political stuff is beyond me much of the time."

"Requesting permission to break our cover." Mark said formally.

"Granted."

* * *

 **Song was 'Trust in Me', Kaa from the Jungle Book.**


	18. Chapter 18

**Of a Lady and a Mother**

The ship was packed to the bulkheads.

Even the area around the egg shaped thing in the back was surrounded by gear. The team had worked hard to secure it all in case of hard maneuvers, so it wasn't going anywhere. None of the occupants of the troop bay had any room to move, much less to do anything else. No one complained.

Jesse and Arisha sat beside Marina and Ami as the team medic checked Ana and Aroa again. Both Vipers had been strapped in carefully and their companions were close, just not as close as the medic and the soother. Everyone had decided that was what they would call Arisha's task and she found she liked that title. Jesse was still figuring out his own path, but his mechanical bent was clear. Even now, he was fiddling with some small piece of tech.

Everyone else was geared up and ready.

This time, the team had dropped any pretense of being normal humans. Each wore full powered combat armor. Their Viper companions wore helmets that were the same colors as theirs, but only Arisha wore full armor. It had been a bit of a struggle to get her into it, both convincing her to do it and getting it on since she had never worn such before. It was also clearly a prototype. The _less_ said about the plumbing attachments, the better. She had been a good soldier about it however and not complained much at all.

Part of Mark's attention was on his team, the rest of it was on flying the ship. It handled just the same fully loaded as it had empty, so that wasn't a problem. The weather was fair, but from several readouts it looked as if a storm was moving in from the east. He really didn't want to fly this thing in bad visibility if he could help it. For now though? The flying was easy. That wasn't a problem.

The problem was the _thing_ sitting off his left wing.

As soon as he had taken off from the facility after arming the fail-safe and sealing the door, a small flying vehicle had appeared and moved to flank the ship. It hadn't responded to Adika's repeated attempts at communication, but neither had it moved away. It was small, far too small to have a pilot crammed in on top of the engines that had to be producing the glow on the back of it. It also had what were obviously weapon ports. It wasn't any kind of craft that Mark had ever seen before. It looked like a kind of hybrid between alien tech and human. It had no markings, so he assumed it was some kind of X-Com drone. He could swat it out of the air fairly easily. It as well within the firing arc of the sonic cannon and this was point blank range. But if he did? All of the Vipers except maybe Arisha were vulnerable. Both Ana and Aroa were still hurt and if he hurt hem again, he could kill them. Since the sonic dampening hadn't worked quite right for them, it had been a miracle that neither of them had suffered brain damage from the sound. Ami promised that her modifications would hold, but he wasn't going to take the chance with his nest mates' lives unless he had to.

He took a deep breath as he saw the skyline of the city center ahead and started towards the coordinates that Milodi had given him. Adika jerked and touched her equipment.

"Unidentified craft, this is Flight Control, City Center Akih Nos." The clipped voice of an Advent flight controller came over the craft's internal speakers. "Identify."

"Well, Adika?" Mark smiled at com tech in the seat beside him who was all but squirming in anticipation. "Care to do the honors?"

"I _never_ thought I was going to be able to do this!" Adika all but crowed with glee as she started hitting keys. "Um… Everyone check your sound dampener in case of feedback." She warned. All the Vipers did as Adika fiddled with her own helmet. Then their companions double checked them, Jesse checking Alley's.

"Adika, don't play with the settings." Marina warned. "The _last_ thing we need is for you to go down with an aneurysm." The blood vessels in Viper auditory apparatus were very sensitive, hence what had happened to the others. Neither had burst a blood vessel, but that had probably been pure luck or some kind of survival mechanism that no one could explain.

"Yes, Marina." Adika said with a human style nod as she finished whatever she was doing. She turned her head to Mark and nodded to him. "Ready."

"Transmit."

Mark was hardly the only one to watched with bated breath as Adika hit the controls and the com system sent their response. For a long moment, there was utter silence in the ship. Advent city centers had automated air defense systems scattered around them. No one knew _why_ the Elders had insisted on building such. The humans certainly had never been capable of mounting credible air assaults that had any chance of getting through the fleet to Elder spacecraft at first and then Advent's formidable air force later on. Such systems were not perfect. Mark and his team had learned the pluses and minuses of all of the various weapon systems. The plasma, laser and sonic based weapons could shred any craft that they could _see_ , but if something small and fast were to approach low enough? Say, that drone that was still hanging of Mark's wing? Such could likely get into and probably out of the city center's airspace fairy easily. Now, evading the _interceptors_ that would have certainly been scrambled in such a case? That would _not_ be _nearly_ so easy.

Doing it _undetected_ was also not going to be nearly so easy, hence why Mark hadn't bothered with subterfuge. This odd thing he was flying was faster than he had thought, but it still was no interceptor craft and he wasn't _about_ to take it down low. Certainly not low and fast without a _lot_ more time at the controls.

"Flight Tau Seven." The flight control came back on. "You are cleared to land at the Enlightenment Center's pad. You will be met. Your clearances check out but we do not have your ship class in our database. Query designation? Over."

Adika stared at Mark who shrugged. They had never thought about that. He hit the control to speak and spoke. "Flight Control, Tau Seven Actual. Ship design is classified, designation is 'Hammerhead'. Over."

 _Everyone_ stared at him and he shrugged again. It _did_ kind of look like a hammer from one angle. Everyone was grinning. Alley snorted, but softly enough it wouldn't be caught by her microphone.

"Tau Seven, Flight Control. Roger that." Was that a soft laugh over the com? No, couldn't be. "Civilian traffic at your three and nine is holding for your approach. You are clear to the Enlightenment Center. Over."

"Flight Control, Tau Seven. Roger that." Adika responded. "Query: Any advisories? Over."

"Tau Seven, Flight Control. That is a negative on advisories at this time. Out." The channel clicked off and everyone relaxed a bit. Then it came on again with another voice.

"Flight Tau Seven, this is Flight Control Actual." Mark stiffened. The Flight Control _commander?_

"Flight Control, this is Tau Seven. Go." Adika responded instantly.

"Flight Tau Seven, are you aware of the X-Com drone shadowing you? Over."

"Flight Control, Tau Seven. We were not sure who they were." Adika responded. "I assume they are not going to do anything since they haven't yet. They have not responded to our attempts at communication. Over."

"They _don't_." That response was not per protocol and the speaker was clearly not happy.

"Flight Control, Tau Seven Actual. I assume shooting at them is a bad idea?" Mark asked. "Over."

"Tau Seven, Flight Control. Indeed it is." The commander of the air traffic system was just as sour as the other speaker. Who could _blame_ him? Unknown tiny things flitting in and out of busy airspace was _not_ something that would make for happy afternoons in any air or space traffic control center. "They take offense easily and we cannot hit them. It gets expensive to fix all the holes. Best advice? Ignore them. Over."

"Flight Control, Tau Seven. Planning to. ETA to landing is two minutes at this speed." Mark returned to his abbreviated training. "Over."

"Tau Seven, Flight Control. Roger that. For what is worth? Welcome home. Out." The com clicked off again. Mark clicked his own off just in time.

"Hammerhead?" Adika demanded, incredulous. " _HAMMERHEAD?_ " Everyone was saying the same thing. All with the same expressions of incredulity.

"First thing that came to mind." Mark grinned as _everyone_ groaned.

"If you were not _flying_ this thing, I _would_ have Adika swat you for something that bad." Alley said sourly. Everyone chuckled, including Mark.

"We are coming up on landing. Game faces, people." Mark commanded. "Jesse, Arisha, stay with the wounded. Everyone else? Let's give them a show."

* * *

The Enlightenment Center

Flying craft were nothing new in the city center. Advent aircraft had been around since Advent had been formed. The ubiquitous transports with their four vanes on either side of the fuselage were so common as to be nearly unremarkable. They carried everything, everywhere as they had been designed to land almost anywhere that there was space.

What as coming in to land at the Enlightenment Center was not an Advent transport. It was white, for one thing, instead of the black and red of Advent. For another, it had sleek wings on either side instead of four vanes that could alter geometry to hover or fly straight.

Even now, the memorial plaza just outside the center had its share of visitors. People who wanted to see the plaques. Who wanted to remember, or mourn for whatever reason they had. At least a dozen humans and hybrids paused in whatever they were doing as the hum the ship gave off altered and the ship lowered toward a pad marked for Advent craft to land. More than one person looked at the two white robed priestesses who stood waiting and both nodded reassurance to them.

"They are not hostile." Priest Amadri was as calm as ever and everyone relaxed. She turned to her companion. "Are they?" She inquired quietly as the ship touched down.

"They shouldn't be. I don't know why they are here. Certainly like _this_." Milodi replied just as quietly. "I hoped to see them again. They are good people. But I never expected _this_. They were covert ops. This is not sneaky at all. The codes check out. It is them."

"And the other thing." Amadri shook her head. "That cannot be a coincidence."

"No, it can't." Milodi sighed. "They won't be happy."

"Well, _I_ am not happy with them being armed after what happened last time." Amadri said sternly. "If we had been given more time, I _would_ have cleared the plaza."

"They are professionals, sister." Milodi stood up a bit straighter as the hatch on the front of the ship opened and a short ramp slid down to touch the dirt, but what happened next was completely unexpected. Instead of people coming down the ramp, music sounded from the ship. Some kind of instrumental music, thudding percussion. Milodi stared as Amadri gasped. "Sister?"

" _John Williams?_ That… That is impossible..." The old priest said weakly as the music continued and now, everyone was staring at the ship as a white armored human form appeared in the hatch. He marched down the ramp to take up station beside it as a _Viper in_ _fake_ _white_ _plastic_ _armor_ slithered down the ramp and did the same on the other side. _Neither were visibly armed!_ Everyone in the plaza was gawking as eight _more_ forms clad the same way appeared and marched down the ramp, each taking station there to wait. None of _them_ seemed armed. What were they waiting for?

Milodi stared as the hatch closed and the music stopped. Four of them were missing. Three Vipers and one human. So, what? Her thoughts came to halt as Amadri stepped forward, her face thunderous.

"Whose idea was _this?_ " The elder sister demanded. All of the figures in unison pointed at one of the Vipers who saluted Amadri. "You better _hope_ that John Williams and Disney have no heirs available or they _will_ demand royalties for you using the 'Imperial March'." Her scowl faded as everyone laughed and then she grinned.

"Only if we did it for profit, Ma'am." The Viper said smoothly. "We are not making any money on this." Her face was hidden behind the plastic mask, but she was clearly smirking.

"You lot are _evil!_ " Amadri snapped, but then she laughed. "How did you know I am a _fan?_ And where did you find _Imperial_ _Storm-trooper helmets_ for _Vipers?_ "

 _Everyone_ laughed at that.

"We didn't know you were a fan. Glad we could be of service." The closest human raised his armor face-plate and the hologram around it faded. Milodi smiled. It was Mark and his armor was camouflaged to look like something out of a movie. "There is a lot of odd stuff in that facility and we figured better a show than a full assault team. Priestess Milodi said this place was peaceful. We _will_ defend ourselves if needed, but we will not instigate violence."

"Thank you." Amadri said softy. "I... We saw violence here once and I lost a good sister that day."

"You have my condolences." He looked at Milodi who was gaping at him. "Hello, Priestess."

"Mark, what the hell is going on?" She kept her voice low as she stepped forward. "I didn't expect to see you so soon and certainly not like _this_."

"We need to talk to you in private." Mark said quietly. "Can that be arranged?"

"We had a security breach earlier today." Milodi replied, just as quiet. "A human attempted to hack our databases. We apprehended her, but she refuses to talk."

"I would offer aid, but our interrogation specialist was wounded earlier." Mark explained, only to pause as Amadri gasped.

"You have _wounded?_ " The Elder Priestess said, her tone sharp.

"It was an accident, not enemy action." Mark explained. "The two affected persons will be fine, but they need rest now more than anything."

"You know… Sister Renas _has_ been complaining about being bored." Amadri looked at the ship and the lines of white armored beings, human and alien alike. "Since I no longer have an Advent budget, I am supposed to ask for payment now for services rendered, but I think _this_ qualifies as payment. Thank you. The first 'Star Wars' was always my favorite human movie even with all the violence." Milodi stared a her sister, nonplussed and Amadri snickered. "Hey, I have hobbies."

Milodi slowly shook her head and refrained from comment.

"We will provide compensation anyway." Mark shook his head "We don't work for free and neither should you. It sets a bad precedent. Charity is all well and good, but human history is replete with episodes of people abusing such. We have resources to spare. You need them. You have services we can use. Everyone wins."

"Milodi told me how professional you are." Amadri smiled at Mark. "I didn't believe her."

"We take some getting used to."

 _Everyone_ spoke up.

" _You don't say!_ "

* * *

Ten minutes later

"...and Renas says they both will be up and about in less than an hour." Milodi shook her head. "She _must_ be bored. This is the nicest I have ever seen her act."

She had taken Mark to a private room and waited for him to sweep for bugs while the wounded were transferred to the medical ward. He didn't find any, surprise, surprise. The psionic abilities of the Priests and Priestess who lived here would play merry havoc with most tech means of eavesdropping.

"She probably remembers us all covered in dirt and blood after the mess at the camp." Mark said mildly. Milodi grimaced and nodded.

"Thank you for not coming in here armed to the teeth." Milodi sighed. "I assume you want to talk to the Lady?"

"You _and_ her." Mark agreed. "I have spoken with Oshina. Did you know?" Milodi nodded. "Let me guess. Advent records?"

"They recorded _everything_." Milodi agreed softly. "The Mutons don't talk to outsiders, but the records are clear. Every clan is losing females. Some to warfare, some to disease, a few to age. There are none who can bear young. The Mutons on planet will die out if we cannot do something."

"All of the females who are left are sterile. The clans will likely want to go out fighting. Fighting is what they do." Mark shook his head. "I wonder if Mother knew."

"She did." He was not surprised when a yellow form appeared out of nowhere to hover in front of them. It took every ounce of his willpower not to bow to her in her Ethereal form but he managed. He shouldn't bow to any but his Clan Leader. She coalesced and then stood as a human in front of him. All but her eyes, which flashed ever so often with yellow spots of fire. "That is one reason she asked my aid. She didn't know who I had been. I told her and she was not surprised. Hello, Mark."

"Lady." Mark inclined his head. "We have two genetic mutation machines, but Marina was never trained to use them."

"Your Mother was _very_ unhappy with what happened to Marina." The Lady's eyes flashed dangerously. She wasn't happy either. "I cannot blame her."

"Nor can I." Mark shook his head yet again. "So, we have two incredibly dangerous pieces of tech that _we_ cannot use. Can _you?_ "

"I can. But _should_ I? I am tempted, Mark." The Lady said carefully. "I am so _very_ tempted. So _many_ need help. Oshina and his clan… now including you?" She inquired. Mark nodded and she smiled. "Good. Oshina and his clan, indeed, _all_ of the Mutons on planet, were brought here by the Elders and left here when they fell. Your Mother knew that to the Elders, the Mutons and so many others were just biological tech that could be replaced whenever it broke. To her and hers though?"

"Far more." Mark agreed. "I am authorized to negotiate with you on Oshina's behalf." Both Milodi and the Lady stiffened at that and Mark nodded. "The humans he took are fine. Well, probably a bit dirty and maybe a bit bruised, but none were harmed or will be if he has anything to say about it."

"Why did he do that?" The Lady asked carefully. "Why didn't he take the rest?"

"He took the young and females of child bearing age." Mark replied and both others in the room tensed. "And before you ask, yes. He knew about the devices."

"Oshina wouldn't _force_ people into them, would he?" Milodi asked, scared.

"Not a _chance_." Mark snapped. "Not all Mutons have honor the same as not all humans or hybrids do." Milodi winced at that and the Lady nodded. "But Oshina _does_. He gave me his sworn word he would offer choice. You _know_ what that means."

"I do." The Ethereal clad in human flesh said softly. "Mark, we have a problem."

"X-Com?" Mark asked slowly. "If they try to take either of the devices, the results will not be pleasant. For anyone _close by_." Rachel had been thorough in setting them up for such.

"No. Not X-Com." The Lady shook her head. "Or, not the _modern_ version of X-Com. _They_ are fairly hands off in this whole thing. They do know about the Muton situation, and are worried. They don't want to fight entire _clans_ of Mutons who have nothing to lose."

"Can't blame them." Mark actually shuddered at that thought. "So who…?" He broke off and groaned. The others shared it.. "Oh, no. Not her _again_."

"Yeah." Milodi sighed. "We think Vahlen sent the spy to hack our databases. We don't think she got anything. We don't know. If she _did_ … No one wrote anything down about your Mother's plans for good reason but Vahlen is not stupid. She knew some of what your Mother did and why. She could put the rest together."

"If she has guessed, if she offers some of the more desperate clans some kind of aid, we have major problems." The Lady agreed. "The _last_ thing we need is the Mutons fighting each other and she likely would pit them against each other. The collateral damage would be insane."

"She cannot be trusted. Once Aroa is up, she can interrogate your prisoner." Mark shook his head. "Our methods work, but they are _not_ for the faint of heart, Priestess."

"I can handle it." Milodi said firmly.

"No, you can't." Mark replied. "Nothing against you, Priestess."

" _I_ can't handle it."


	19. Chapter 19

**All for one, one for all**

Mark waited patiently outside the room with Jack who was trying very hard not to look concerned. Priestesses Milodi and Amadri also stood nearby, their own faces grave. It never took Aroa very long to do what she did. Her methods was surprisingly effective since she was not psionic. She had taken the role because no one else had wanted to do it, and she did it well, but Mark knew the cost to her and her companion.

Hence why he was here. Waiting.

Milodi and Amadri had both refused to leave. Jack and Mark had explained with as little detail as possible when pressed. Both because they didn't want Aroa's methods to become common knowledge and because they wanted to protect their nest mate. Add to that a little squeamishness. None of the nest were prudes by any stretch of the imagination, but there were limits to all things. Aroa pushed those limits.

The door to the room hissed open and Aroa slithered out, her face serene as always. "Leader. It is done."

"Status?" Mark asked. He was inquiring of her _and_ the subject.

"Self is nominal." Aroa replied, knowing that Jack would demanded her own status if she didn't give it first. "Subject is now compliant. She will answer your questions. Give her at least a few minutes to recover."

"What did you do?" Milodi demanded.

"You do not want to know." Aroa said quietly. She was respectful of the Priestess's ability and role in the emerging society, but she wasn't _about_ to divulge nest secrets to _anyone_.

"That being is _our_ prisoner!" Milodi said hotly. "We need to-" She broke off as Amadri laid a hand on her arm. "Sister?" Milodi asked, confused.

"Look at her _tail tip_ , Milodi." Amadri said in a strained voice. Milodi did and gasped. The very end of the Viper's tail was covered by something sticky looking. Aroa did not even glance down at her tail, the tip just slid behind her. "Um. We _don't_ want to know." Milodi nodded, her face suddenly ashen.

"Wise." Aroa, Mark and Jack all chorused.

"Any new information?" Mark asked as Jack moved to his companion. He didn't take her hand, but he did offer her a towel, which she used to scrub her tail.

"Her name is Michelle and she is eighteen years old. She grew up in a remote survivalist camp." Aroa replied as she finished her rough cleaning. "She was recruited by a group that claimed to be X-Com. She expected to fight, but instead was sent here to the city center to act as an agent."

"How long has she been here?" Mark inquired.

"Three years." Aroa replied instantly. "She was activated two days ago and this was her first mission."

"Hell of a first time out." Mark said with a frown. Jack and Aroa both nodded. "What do you think?"

"She gained access, but had not downloaded any information before being apprehended. She honestly believes she is doing what she is doing to save humanity." Aroa said quietly. "She is badly conflicted. She hasn't seen horror from Advent, she has only heard about it. All she has seen in the city center is a decent life. More food than she ever saw in her life in that camp. Electricity. Hot and cold running water. Indoor plumbing. Clean clothing. Kind people." The Viper shook her head. "She expected to wind up in hell and instead is hard pressed not to call the city center heaven. She likes the Priestesses and _loves_ Milodi's music. She hated doing what she did, but she obeyed her orders."

"Did she have a handler?" Mark inquired.

"None that she saw." The Viper acknowledged. "She received her instructions via dead drop."

"'Dead drop'?" Milodi asked, confused. Amadri answered.

"It is spy thing." The elder priestess said with a frown. "One spy drops something in a secret place. Another can pick it up and since they never actually meet, there is little danger. Even if the drop is discovered, a decent spy will observe the area first to watch for danger so they are very hard to catch."

"How do you-?" Milodi growled in annoyance when Amadri smirked. "Never mind. More human movies?" Amadri's smirk became a grin and Milodi's growl became a sigh. "I don't want to know."

"Anything else?" Mark ignored the byplay to focus on Aroa who nodded to him.

"Lead. She never saw her handler, but she _did_ meet the leader of X-Com before coming here, or so she was led to believe. A female human the others referred to as 'Doctor'." The Viper handed Mark an e-pad. "Here is my rough transcript."

"Vahlen?" Mark asked as he took it. Aroa nodded. "I see." Mark nodded back. "Well done. We will take it from here. Get cleaned up. Get some rest."

"Yes sir." Aroa slithered away, Jack right behind her.

"She learned all _that_ in…" Milodi stared at a chronometer nearby. "...less than _two hours?_ "

"She is good. Maybe the best." Mark couldn't help but smile sadly as Jack and Aroa vanished from the hall. He knew they would head for a shower first. Most Vipers didn't like water showers. Aroa did, but not for physical cleaning. Her psyche took beatings every time and she would cry herself to sleep tonight. Jack would not leave her side and if Mark knew Marina? She would be there too. "She is a fully trained xeno-psychologist and xeno-physician. Just talking to her, she will learn far more about you than you feel comfortable with. Not just words, but body language as well." He warned. "She _cannot_ turn it _off_. Not even around us hence why she talks so little and most of that will be 'Yes' and 'No' when not in the field."

"She..." Milodi's pale face turned sick looking. "They made her into that." Mark nodded.

"She chose her role in the team. She knew what she was getting into." Mark said quietly. "But yes, the Elders restructured her and trained her to do that. No one else that I have ever seen can do what she can, not even psis, and _thank god._ " He blew out a breath. "She is my nest mate and I love her, but she scares the hell out of all of us at times."

"If this woman believes she is X-Com..." Amadri said weakly. "...then we need to call them, sister."

"Mark..." Milodi trailed off as Mark nodded.

"This is their problem. Let them clean it up." Mark shrugged. "While I would dearly love a shot at this Vahlen person because of what she did to Mother, I am not stupid. My team is good, but we have little chance of against an entire organization head to head."

"They left a com unit in case of trouble." Milodi said softly. "I don't know how long it will take them to get here."

"Not long at all, I bet." Mark grinned.

* * *

Eighteen minutes after the call

Mark was not surprised at all when Colonel Kelly came striding down the hall. She wore her armor, but only carried her sword. Probably in deference to the Priestesses. Then again, Mark didn't _look_ armed, but he _was_. Also in deference to the Priestesses.

"You rang?" The X-Com woman nodded to Mark who returned it.

"Where _were_ you?" Amadri asked. "You had to be close to get her so quickly."

"She won't answer that." Mark warned. "From what I understand, her organization's main strengths are secrecy and mobility." Colonel Kelly eyed him and Mark shrugged. "Yes, I am new to this time, but we pick up information fast. It is our job." He scowled. " _Was_ our job."

"I need to ask." Colonel Kelly said softly. "Usually I make quite a stir arriving as I do when people can see me do it. _This_ time, no one paid any mind. I landed in the middle of the plaza and no one as much as _glanced_ at me." She sounded vaguely affronted by that.

"You were upstaged." Amadri said with a grin that Milodi shared. "As lethal and scary as you soldiers are, you _cannot_ match Imperial Stormtroopers."

"Imperial…?" The X-Com soldier stared from Amadri to Mark as he smiled and hit his suit's camouflage again, suddenly becoming a minion of the Evil Empire from George Lucas' masterpiece. He closed his face plate and it shimmered, showing it had activated as well. "Wow." She sounded honestly appreciative. " _All_ of you?"

"Even the Vipers." Amadri's grin threatened to split her face. "They _marched_ down the ramp to the tune of John William's 'Imperial March'. Well, the Vipers slithered, but the humans did it in step and the Vipers _swayed_ in time to the human steps." At that, Colonel Kelly choked on a laugh.

"I would have paid good money to see that." The dark haired human woman was fighting laughter.

"We made recordings." Mark promised as he raised his face plate and returned his suit's camo to its default setting. Then he grinned wide and started speaking fast. "For only $19.99 plus shipping and handling, you can get all that and a complimentary-" He broke off as the Colonel raised a hand. Was she warning or pleading?

"Don't make me hit you." Colonel Kelly shook her head. "Laughs are good, but your message said Vahlen?"

Just like that, the mood shifted from amused to serious.

"We caught a human attempting to access our databases earlier today." Amadri said quietly. Colonel Kelly stiffened and Amadri nodded. "She wouldn't talk to us. Mark and his team..." She paused delicately. "Um, they managed to extract some information."

"As he says, that was his job." Colonel Kelly said quietly. "Recon. But a live subject?" She inquired. "Is the information reliable?" Mark looked at the pad and then held it out to Colonel Kelly who took it gingerly. She eyed it and her eyes widened slightly. "Each question has a percentage mark beside it? Percentage truth?" Mark nodded. "And _when_ did you start?"

"You shouldn't pursue that line of inquiry, Colonel." Mark wasn't warning her off, not quite. More a gentle nudge than a shove. "In this we are allies, but there are limits. My nest mate paid for this information with a bit of her sanity. You will not attempt to harm her or you will have to go through us _all_." Not a threat. A promise.

"Human intelligence gathering is always a dirty business." Colonel Kelly did not react to the hostility. If anything? She seemed sad. "Small wonder Advent went for technological surveillance. I am astonished they actually kept your team going."

"You know what we were in reality." Mark replied."What we chose to do was the best kind fo cover. One we didn't know _was_ a cover. If we died, we died. The Elders didn't care. Even if we made a mess doing it, they could clean it up. Mother didn't want us sitting around on our butts, so we picked a hard job that no one else wanted to do and made ourselves indispensable almost by accident."

"The more I learn about your Mother, the more I am impressed." Colonel Kelly said softly. "The whole _world_ lost a treasure with her passing." She sounded honestly sorrowful and Mark nodded. She knew about loss, Colonel Kelly did.

"That we did." Milodi said sadly. "This woman believes she is one of you." She paused as Colonel Kelly looked at the pad and shook her head. "Yes?"

"She is not one of us." Kelly said quietly. "But she thinks she is. I can work with that. Follow my lead?" She asked Mark who shrugged, looking at the Priestesses.

"I am here to help the Priestess with their problem." Mark allowed. "I had a problem of my own, hence why I am here in the light instead of the shadows where I work best."

"Oshina's clan is dying out." Kelly said flatly. "The Mutons will want to die fighting."

"Yeah." Mark allowed. "It is what they do. Thing is, if Vahlen promises them something, well, any but _Oshina_ who would take her _head_ off for what happened to Mother,..." He corrected himself grimly. "…they might take her up on it out of desperation. Not all of them are as honorable as Oshina."

"So why did he kidnap humans from that compound?" Kelly demanded.

"Kidnap?" Mark asked. "As in 'take someone away illegally by force'? Usually for ransom?" He inquired mildly enough that both of the Priestesses flinched. "He kept most of the humans from being _eaten_. I would call that 'rescue' not 'kidnapping'." His eyes did not leave the X-Com soldier's. "He slowly shook his head. "He took some, to safeguard their lives. _All_ of them begged him for help and he couldn't help them all. He hasn't hurt them. He won't hurt them. They are far safer with him than just about anywhere else on this broken world."

"And he did this out of the goodness of his heart?" Colonel Kelly was unmoved.

"I don't know all of his reasoning." Mark replied honestly. "I _do_ know he must have a small soft spot in his heart for hurting human kids or he wouldn't have put up with _half_ of the crap we dumped on him." Both Priestesses smiled at that, but Colonel Kelly did not react. "He is a hard being, an incredibly tough being. But he is _fair_. His training is the only reason _any_ of us survived to adulthood."

"You haven't lied to me that I know of." Colonel Kelly mused. "You may withhold information, but you haven't lied. That makes you far more deal-able with than most intelligence sorts I have dealt with."

"If I have to, I will." Mark warned. "You know that."

"I do." Colonel Kelly allowed. "But just from dealing with you, I think you won't do it capriciously or just because you _can_. If you lie, you will have a good reason for it. If only because lies have a _really_ bad habit of being revealed at the _worst_ possible times." Mark inclined his head in agreement. "And you are very good at telling the truth, but not all of it." She smiled.

"Part of the job." Mark allowed. "Priestesses?"

" _Can_ you work with X-Com, Mark?" Milodi asked. "Soldiers in their uniform did kill your Mother."

"A uniform doesn't make them X-Com." Mark said and Kelly looked at him. "I think if any of Vahlen's goons had met the Colonel here? They would have wet themselves." He smiled and the Colonel shared it. It was not a nice smile.

"I need to talk to you, after." The Colonel said softly. "If you have been in touch with Oshina, I need to talk to him too. Diplomatic stuff." Mark eyed her and she made a face. "We know you won't trust, but my big boss wants to talk to you both."

"Later." Mark focused on the mission. "Let's get this done."

"Right."

* * *

An hour later

"I don't know what I expected." Colonel Kelly sat with Mark and the Priestesses in a lounge that had apparently been set aside for them. "I know Advent doesn't do the whole 'hot irons and thumbscrews' thing. I have been through it. But she wasn't..." She shook her head as she trailed off, bemused.

"She was calm." Milodi said weakly, sipping a tea. Mark had politely refused when she had offered. The Colonel likewise. "She was calm. Reserved even. She wasn't desperate. She wasn't angry. I expected her to be angry."

"Your interrogator is very good." Colonel Kelly said softly. "If I had been in _her_ clutches instead of regular Advent?"

"You would have broken." Mark said flatly. "You are tough. I would give you a day." He shook his head. "Regular Advent methods _did_ work, but they were slow. Psionic means can rip information right out of an untrained mind, but it leaves the subject hurting, sometimes dead." Both Priestesses nodded, grimacing in unison. "They knew you were high rank?" Kelly nodded. "They wanted everything you had, not just fast information. You _would_ have broken eventually. Everyone does. But you got out."

"I was rescued." Kelly shrugged. "I knew it was only a matter of time. Waking up elsewhere was almost a dream at first. I _did_ dream of escaping. Sometimes had nightmares about it. Coming back was a long journey."

"Psychological trauma is very slow to fade and it can come back at bad times." Mark was speaking from experience and the Colonel nodded.

"Hence why I come here." Colonel Kelly admitted to Mark's surprise. Both priestesses looked at her and she shook her head. "It is no secret that I am crazy, Milodi, Amadri. But I don't want to stay that way."

"You fought and survived when many others did not." Mark agreed. "Now you have to go on. I might as well say that some of us will seek counseling as well. Probably here."

"The Priestess _do_ know how to keep their mouths shut." Colonel Kelly said with smile. Said smile faded. "Vahlen… Damn her. She just won't stop pushing. The war is _over_. I don't want to start a new one with the Mutons."

"What can she do?" Mark asked. "I mean, obviously, she has resources and skill to remain hidden."

The two hybrids looked at the Colonel who nodded and spoke.

"We, X-Com that is, found one of her test sites." The armored woman said quietly. "She had found an abandoned Advent genetics facility that had three stasis fields still active. In them were three viable eggs."

"I don't like where this is going." Mark made a face and the Colonel nodded agreement.

"Join the club." The woman said sourly. "She tinkered with the DNA of each subject. Making them stronger, faster, smarter. And… Supposedly loyal to _her_." She made a matching face as Mark paled. "That part didn't work."

"Oh shit."

"'Oh shit' is right." The Colonel slumped a bit. "We investigated an odd distress call. The fight is a blur. I was there. There was a Viper there. Larger than any Viper I have ever seen. Twice the size of a _Muton_." Mark's eyes bulged and she nodded. "A _male_."

"A _what?_ " Mark demanded. "No, all Vipers are _female_. She didn't!" Outrage poured from him, matched by the Colonel and the Priestesses.

"She did." The Colonel shook her head. "It was berserk. Attacked us. It was so fast and so strong, we nearly lost three people. Jenni was in the Infirmary for two weeks healing a crushed spine. We had no choice. We had to kill it."

"A male _Viper_. Dear God." Mark said weakly. He shook himself. "The others?"

"An Archon and a female Muton." Colonel Kelly said softly. Mark froze at the last and she nodded. "So yes, she knows the DNA."

"And if she tries _again_..." Mark was about to go on when a familiar yellow form appeared in their midst and formed into the Lady. She was _pissed_.

"She has."


	20. Chapter 20

**Who traps the trapper?  
**

The meeting was tense.

By unspoken agreement, only two humans from the nest were present, Mark and Marina, although Mark had his sub-dermal com open so the others could listen in. He had a feeling he would need their help to figure out a way to solve this problem. If they could. Nothing was coming to mind at the moment. He kept his mouth shut, both to listen and out of a sense of self preservation. Five more X-Com troops had appeared and all of _them_ were armed. The Priestesses hadn't even quibbled, they were still in shock.

For now? All he could do was listen as Colonel Kelly briefed her superiors.

"...then I proceeded to interrogate the unknown. She _definitely_ was working for Vahlen." The Colonel was speaking to a hologram above what looked for all the world like a cheap copy of the com unit that Mark shared with Oshina. Did X-Com have quantum communicators? If so, small _wonder_ they were hard to track. "She was caught on the premises before she managed to download any information."

"And then?" The man in the holo was unfamiliar to Mark, but everyone else seemed to know this 'Central' person. Not the X-Com Commander, Milodi had murmured softly to him, but he wasn't sure about their hierarchy, so he remained silent and listened.

"Then we received notification. Sir..." Colonel Kelly frowned. "We promised these people safety."

"I agree we need to so something, Colonel, but _what?_ " The other asked sourly. "This is not a field action. Collateral damage is _not_ acceptable here." Everyone nodded at that, human and hybrid alike.

Mark's eyes were pulled to a holographic map on the table nearby. On it, a large building shone with multiple red marks on it. The Lady hadn't been upset, she had been _furious_ and small wonder. Some of _her_ people were in that building. From what Milodi had said, it had taken quite a while to get the Lady to let _any_ of her people out of her own secure location, which no one knew the location of. Which meant this was planned to anger everyone.

It had.

The only good news as that no one was dead yet. The security troops on site had been stunned with weapons that Mark was all too familiar with. Vahlen's troops did like their toys. Apparently gas had been introduced into the air systems as well to keep the many occupants from fleeing. The plan had probably been to take the whole place and set up defenses before anyone knew. Then make demands? No demands of any kind had been made, but at least there hadn't been any gunfire either.

 _Mark._ The voice was in his head and he fought hard not to jerk as Lady's scared voice sounded. _Can you do anything? Valere in there. She is awake and she_ _is_ _terrified._

 _Have they done anything to her?_ Mark replied the same way, he wasn't a psi, but he had spoken mind to mind with Alley on occasion.

 _Not yet beyond binding her._ The Lady said weakly. _They are talking about dissecting her brain. She is not human anymore. I can't do anything from this distance, Mark except be there for her, try to keep her calm._

 _You take care of your people._ Mark replied. _I will see what I can do. I cannot promise anything. I don't have orders for such a situation._

 _Would Oshina help?_ The Lady pleaded.

 _Probably._ Mark frowned little as the Colonel turned to the map, still talking to her superior _. He dislikes terrorists._

 _Oh?_ A new voice sounded in Mark's head. Male. Cold. Angry. _And what are you?_

An X-Com soldier turned his head to look at Mark. The black skull mask on his face was eerie, but not that bad to someone who had grown up surrounded by alien life forms.

 _This is a private conversation, James Morgan!_ The Lady snapped. _Don't make me hurt you!_

 _What am I?_ Mark asked softly. _Pissed off. I never,_ **ever** _, used terror as a weapon. Advent may have._ _I don't know. I never saw such._ **I** _never killed people unless they were actively shooting at me or about to. In such cases, I had no choice in the matter. So unless you have some more_ _super secret X-Com method to solve this_ _or_ _at least_ _some wisdom to impart, please butt out!_

What had to be an X-Com psi actually recoiled a little at that and then gave Mark a tiny little nod.

"Syndrome?" Colonel Kelly had incredibly sharp eyes it seemed. "Problem?"

"The other humans have been remarkably silent." The skull faced man replied. "Do they have anything to add?"

"Stand down, people." Colonel Kelly said flatly as several of her troops glared at Mark and Marina. "Now. They were not involved in this."

"Make them prove it." One of the men with them snarled and then went totally still as Colonel Kelly's blade was in hand and its point aimed at his face. "Ah, Colonel?"

"If you think they are in here, _unarmed_ and _defenseless_ , then you are a complete _moron_ , Beta!" The woman grated the words out. "I don't want to die here and I know the Priestess don't want to _either_. Stand the fuck down! _NOW!_ " She paused as Milodi and Amadri both winced. "Sorry for the language."

Mark still didn't trust Colonel Kelly, but he was starting to admire her. She was anything but stupid. Not that he _wanted_ to do such, but he _was_ prepared.

"He does make a good point." Milodi was not timid. She was understandably a bit cautious with so many angry armed people in the room. "Mark? Your thoughts?"

"Whoever did this planned fairly well." Mark turned to the map and shook his head. "They likely didn't know how closely the Lady keeps tabs on her people. Gas and then a swift assault on the security center. Then lock down to keep everyone in while they do...whatever the hell they are doing." He shook his head. "The building are strong and they have heavy weapons set up to cover the approaches. A frontal assault would be suicide or at best cause civilian casualties. Something to be avoided if at all possible."

"Could _you_ get in?" The Colonel asked and Mark looked at her. "The last thing anyone wants here is a bloodbath. Well, except _Vahlen_ apparently." She muttered darkly.

"I am not authorized to act." Mark said quietly. At that, all of the X-Com troops started muttering, but Colonel Kelly's blade flashed back into its sheathe and they shut up.

"And if you _were?_ " The Colonel pressed. "Could you lead my people in?" Mark looked at the map carefully. He had already seen a possibly entry, but was hoping for something a bit less claustrophobic.

Alley muttered a query sub-vocal and Marina replied the same way. The medic looked at Mark and pursed her lips but nodded slightly. If they could get a team inside, it would solve all kinds of problems. They had options. Just, not very good ones. Ami spoke up, checking things. Mark focused on the Colonel again. They couldn't do _anything_ without Oshina's okay, but if they could get that? They would be in motion in minutes. Innocent lives were in danger. The Muton would likely give them a 'go' order even if this did smell like a trap to Mark. A spy and then a hostage situation? It stank. The Colonel was waiting patiently and Mark shook his head.

"No." Mark replied. "The only ways in are too small for your people to get through." He pointed at a set of places on the map.

"Those are sewer drains and _they_ are...half a _meter_ in diameter?" Colonel Kelly stared and then chuckled. One of her soldiers whistled in awe. "Damn. Have you done that kind of thing often?"

"I can neither confirm nor deny that I have ever taken such an action." Mark replied calmly.

"Which is probably as close to a 'yes' as we are ever going to _get_ from you shadow ops people." Colonel Kelly snorted and her people relaxed a bit. "Can you call Oshina? We need help on this." That admission obviously hurt her, but with so many civilians in the line of fire? They _couldn't_ go in guns blazing.

"If he does authorize me to intervene, I will have to go in alone. Your people may be good, but they won't be able to keep up with us." Mark did not miss the tension in the other X-Com troops.

"None of _them_ were trained by a Muton." Colonel Kelly agreed sourly and everyone stared at Mark who shrugged. "I bet your fire discipline is pretty good too."

"When you get beaten and put on half rations for a week for missing _anything_ in a shoot house?" Marina said quietly. "Yes. You get really good, really fast." Mark shook his head and she shut her mouth as all of the X-Com troops stared at her.

"What did he do if you clipped a friendly?" One of the other soldiers asked. Colonel Kelly rounded on him but everyone stopped as Mark and Marina winced in unison.

" _Please_ don't ask that." They chorused.

"That bad?" The soldier half asked, half whispered.

" _Worse_." Mark shuddered in memory. "If it is a choice between taking a hit and hitting a friendly? _Any_ of my people will take a hit. Armored or no. Better _dead_ than _that_ again." Marina nodded fervent agreement.

"I see." The Colonel shook her head. "Please talk to Oshina as soon as you can. Do you need to go back to your vehicle?"

"That would be best." Mark allowed. "We need to arm up and we can deploy from there if he authorizes us to go in. Our coms are not compatible." He warned.

"If we are going to be anywhere _near_ each other in the future, that will need to be addressed." The Colonel said with a frown. "I will escort you up. The rest of you? Get the teams into position. We need to show we are doing something or even Vahlen's goons will smell a rat."

"Or a _snake_." One of the women muttered never even close to under her breath. Then she hit the _floor_ as Colonel Kelly grabbed her rifle right out of her hands and _backhanded_ her in the same sinuous motion. She stared up at the furious Colonel.

"Apologize to our allies. _Now._ " The Colonel had her free hand on her sword hilt.

"No need, Colonel. Your people are soldiers, not diplomats." Mark spoke up. "Although _our_ Vipers don't smell. They take pride in that. Smells can give you away in the field."

"That they _can_." The Colonel safetied the woman's rifle and dropped it on her chest. "One more word, Recruit. _One_ more word and I will send you back to the Avenger to explain yourself to the Commander. You will be lucky to get off KP duty in a _year_."

"She remembers us." Marina said into the silence. "She has cause for hate." Mark looked at her but she was looking at the woman. "I am glad you survived, Karen."

That _was_ Karen, the former leader from the camp they had taken back when Mother had found the infected girl and started this whole mess! She was glaring at them but also eyeing the Colonel warily. Mark slowly shook his head. What were the odds?

"Is this going to happen to you a lot?" Colonel Kelly asked mildly as she released her sword hilt. Apparently the recruit was not suicidal today. Mark and Marina both shrugged. She smiled a bit ruefully. "Figured that would be your answer. Let's get you to your com."

"For hostage rescue, there _may_ be another way to get your people in. Maybe." Mark said softly as they walked. "Even if it works, it won't be pleasant." He warned.

"Last I checked, none of us _do_ pleasant." Colonel Kelly chuckled and the others shared it. "Tell me more."

They walked off, an oddly companionable trio.

* * *

Thirty minutes later

"Travel the world, they said." Mark was careful to keep his voice sub-vocal as he passed another cut grate and slid through muck that he really preferred not to think about. "Meet interesting people they said."

"Crawl through really nasty things to deal with really nasty people." Alley retorted the same way. "Thank god for proper nasal filters."

A soft chorus of 'Amen' sounded from everyone. The drain was barely big enough for Mark to squeeze through and he had been forced to take off his armor and weapons first. He was pushing them through ahead of him. Alley and the Vipers had gone ahead to secure the area and carefully cut the grates that should have denied them entry. Their ability to move through much smaller opening had served the whole team very well in the past.

Oshina hadn't been happy, but as Mark knew he would, the Muton had agree to let Mark's team help. He disliked terrorists in general and he _really_ disliked Vahlen's goons. The biggest worry was that Jack and Aroa were not here. Aroa was still recovering and Jack wouldn't leave her side so the team's best sneak was sidelines. Jesse and Arisha had volunteered, but Mark had shot that down quickly. Neither was anywhere close to capable for such a thing yet. Maybe someday. Not yet.

"Anything?" He asked. A chorus of soft negatives sounded and he winced. "That doesn't seem right. These guys may not be the brightest of bulbs, but they _have_ to know we are in the area. That landing was fairly obvious."

"And whose fault was _that_ , hmmm, Adika?" Cable asked playfully.

"I didn't know she was a fan." Adika replied quietly. "I just figured, we have it, why not flaunt it?"

"We _did_ make an impression." Marina replied. "Of _insanity_ , but hey. The only face anyone outside saw was Mark's."

"Yeah, and I was always going to be the public face." Mark agreed. "Status?" He inquired of the Vipers.

"Boiler room secured." Alley replied. "Alina is hacking the security system now. It is a new one, so she is having to go slow."

"Anything odd at _all?_ " Mark asked. His hackles were rising. Something was wrong. Very wrong.

"No." Each Viper replied in sequence.

"Everyone! Plan G!" Mark shouted as the drain in front of him suddenly went bright. He saw something that looked like a rifle muzzle. One with a familiar underslung thing. "Trap!"

Whoever was pointing the weapon into the drain was a moron. He should have fired while Mark was blinded. He didn't. He was probably going to threaten or something equally idiotic. Mark didn't let him have time reconsider. He fired. His own underslung stunner burped and then a hail of railgun rounds followed it. Whoever was standing there cursed and the light vanished. Mark was trying to shimmy backwards when a small round thing flew into the drain. He had a moment to start to curse mentally before cold swallowed him up.

* * *

An indeterminate time later

Mark was cold. So very cold. But he was awake.

"If you hurt _any_ of them, Oshina will kill us _all_." The female voice was no anyone Mark knew. Did he? It was a Muton and there were never many female Mutons. An armored hand was checking Mark's vitals professionally. "Probably _slowly_."

"We didn't get them all!" A voice that Mark did remember spoke up. Jackson wasn't a voice that Mark was going to forget. "We need to move. Now."

"Move _where?_ " The female Muton demanded. "Did you glorious leader's plan _ever_ take into account an X-Com response so swiftly? We cannot fly away with them so close. Can you teleport us out of this trap?"

"We will take their vehicle." The soldier said firmly. "With so many hostages to choose from, we take a few of the youngest along with our prey and no one will fire."

 _Idiot._ Mark snapped in his head and then he went still as a small hand touched him and a voice spoke in his mind.

 _You are awake. Don't move._ The voice was young, female and scared. Not the Muton. _None of your people are dead. This was a trap for you. They knew. They knew she would beg your help. Damn them. She is crying. Don't move._ She pleaded as Mark tried his limbs. As expected, they were bound. _He will hurt you._

 _Of course he will._ Mark replied. _Hurting people is all he knows how to do. Young lady? Cover your ears. I don't want the Lady mad at me if I teach you some things._ He opened his mouth and was not surprised to find it could. Jackson probably wanted to hear him scream. "Hey, Jackson, fancy meeting your imbeciles here." He worked hard to keep his tone conversational. "I am curious. Still shooting bound prisoners? I guess Vahlen doesn't invest much in marksmanship training for you assholes."

"Well, well, well." Jackson gloated. "The lead snake lover wakes up at last. How you feeling, scale-boy?"

"Fair." Mark replied even as something cold, hard and round prodded him in the gut. It took no imagination to know it was a rifle barrel. "Better than _you_ will be when Oshina gets his hands on you. It was too much to hope that you had died when Mother destroyed the last bio-agent sample, but hey, scum always rises to the surface, doesn't it, fool?"

"Your alien bitch of a mother cost us a lot." A slap rocked Mark's face, but he smiled. "Do you like pain, brat?"

"No, actually I don't. But you hit like a _human_." Mark kept his smile as slaps came again and again. Then punches started, but he kept grinning. It didn't hurt _nearly_ as bad a Oshina's hits. "Is that _really_ the _best_ you can do, nekulturny?" He insulted the man in Russian when they stopped. "Geez, you need some physical training, you pussy. Even _Jesse_ hits harder than that. Can you really do no better than an untrained fifteen year old?" A hand grabbed his crotch and squeezed, but Mark just laughed. "Try again, weakling. That _tickles_."

"Stop!" The female voice sounded and the sound of a blow came. A beefy probably not human fist struck armor and Jackson cursed. "He is trying to provoke you into killing him! If we lose them, the doctor will be very unhappy! Go check the others!" Her voice came closer to Mark. "You are not an idiot! Do you _really_ think we went to all this trouble just to lose you now?" She declared as strangely gentle armored hands checked Mark's face. "Stop provoking him."

"Let's see." Mark said softly. "If I _help_ him, I die, my friends die, probably horribly. If I _don't_ help him, I die, my friends die, probably horribly. So… Why don't you and he…" He started discussing intercourse in English. Then he switched to French. He was working on explaining carnal relations in _Italian_ when the female laughed.

"Damn boy." She sounded appreciative instead of insulted. "The rumors don't do you lot justice."

"You know you are screwed, right?" Mark inquired. '"X-Com won't let you go. The Lady is righteously pissed. Oshina is now too. Even the Priestesses are furious. This institute for learning was _their_ idea and you have screwed it, probably permanently." His voice gentled. "What did she offer you? Children?"

"Yeah." The other sad sadly. "She said she can reverse the sterility. Make me fertile. She said she did it before."

"Did she tell you what happened to that one?" Mark asked in Muton. "I don't know if they can understand this language or not."

"I do not believe they can understand us." The Muton replied in the same way. "I… No. She did not."

"What is your name?" Mark asked. "Mine is Mark of Oshina's clan."

"You… are..." The female Muton sounded dumbstruck. A large hand touched his face and the blindfold he had known he was wearing even without looking came off. He looked up into an unfamiliar face. The female Muton was shaking her head. "I..."

"Mother 'adopted' us." _Adopt_ wasn't a word in the Muton language so Mark used English. "She took us in. Made us hers. We know your pain. None of us will ever have children. Is that why Vahlen wants us?"

"That is what she said. I don't trust that woman." The Muton gave herself a shake and responded formally. "I am Riloa. I was of clan Juo, but I am the last."

"I hope they died well." Condolences for Mutons were _different_.

"They did." Riloa agreed. She turned to the side and a small humanoid edged into Mark's view. Her hands were cuffed in front of her, but she seemed otherwise unharmed. "I won't hurt you, Valere. I won't let them hurt you again." She promised the girl.

"I am _sorry_." The girl's head was bulged, almost like a Sectoid. Her face and voice were both abject. "I didn't realize they were using me as _bait!_ "

"So what they said to you was meant for the Lady." Mark said slowly. "To get us to move in so they could trap us." Both the not-quite-a-human and the Muton nodded.

"Dishonorable." Riloa growled and then hung her head. "They didn't tell me about that. I was trying to make sure none of your people would be harmed. I don't want Oshina after me."

Mark nodded. That wasn't fear, that was _sense_. He eyed Riloa carefully "If you had another way, an _honorable_ way, would you _take_ it?"

"Yes." Riloa said weakly. "But..." She paused as Mark nodded. "What?"

"If you have a weapon, _drop it_." Mark commanded as a tickle came across his implants. It was happening. Jesse and Arisha had made it work! "Get to the other side of me and _don't move. Both of you!_ " Riloa stared at him and he barked at her in Muton. " _NOW!_ "

Riloa grabbed Valere who gave a squeak but did did not resist as the Muton bolted to the other side of Mark. Just in time. His plan worked. The floor in front of him turned blue-green with energy and suddenly six humans in combat armor stood there, most looking slightly green. Colonel Kelly smiled grimly as she hefted her shotgun.

" _Nice_ trick."

X-Com had arrived.


	21. Chapter 21

**Close Quarters**

"She is with _me!_ " Mark called as all of the X-Com troops took aim at the stunned Muton. Colonel Kelly had her blade in hand and it shimmered with blue energy. "Riloa? How many enemy in the facility?" He demanded, more to keep X-Com from firing than for actual information.

"Twenty-three armed soldiers." The Muton said slowly in heavily accented English as she rose to her full height and held up empty hands. None of the X-Com troops relaxed. "The heavy weapons are fakes with energy emitters to seem dangerous. Most of the troops have rifles and sidearms. One that I saw carried a sniper type weapon, another a launcher of some kind. A few are carrying grenades. They have one medic. Two have things I do not know. They looked like tech, not weapons."

"That doesn't make them _safe_. They used gas, so they likely have more of that too." Mark said flatly. "Can you..." He held out his hands and then swallowed hard as Colonel Kelly's blade flashed. He stared at the burnt remnants of his binders. His skin wasn't even singed by the heat of the blade, she had cut so smoothly. He shook his head. "That works." He bent at the waist and held his legs straight up. She did the same again. Valere held out her hands and the Colonel sliced her bonds off as Mark shook his head. "Damn, you are _handy_."

"Could say the same about you." The X-Com team lead said with a grin. "That was a hell of a ride, but worth it to have a sneaky way in."

More than one of her team shook their heads at their leader's odd sense of humor.

"Yeah, but it was a one shot. The tech will have burnt out carrying so many at once." Mark shrugged to ease sore muscles. "Worth it if we can save the civilians though. We tested it with one pair at a time, but we never actually _used_ it. It was sort of a 'hail Mary' type of backup plan. We never _had_ backup before, so..." He trailed off and shrugged again. "Might as well use it for what it was meant for."

"Such as walking into a trap, _knowing_ it was a trap?" Colonel Kelly sheathed her sword and held out a hand. Mark took it to pull himself to his feet. "And they call _me_ crazy."

"You _are_ crazy, Colonel Kelly." Mark said as he straightened. "But so am I." He paused as three clicks came over his sub-vocal com. He replied the same way and then spoke aloud. "My team is up. Status?" He inquired softly.

"All humans are awake and free." Cable's voice came over his internal com. "They separated our companions and we have no idea where they are."

"Where are the Vipers?" Mark asked Riloa who stared at him in awe or shock, maybe both. "Riloa!" He snarled at her. "Snap out of it."

"You are as scary as I had heard. Small wonder Oshina wanted you in his clan." She gave herself a shake. "The Vipers have been sedated and secured for transport." Riloa said weakly. "The doctor wanted all of you alive." Mark made a face and she nodded. "It cannot be for anything good."

"Where is our gear?" Mark checked himself and he wore his armor, but most of this tools and tricks were gone. Not all, but most. He pulled a backup weapon out of an ammo pouch and checked the blade as the X-Com troops moved towards the door. "And where are the hostages?"

"Your gear is in a room three doors down on the left. Last I saw it was guarded by two soldiers." Riloa said softly, her eyes never leaving Mark. "The hostages have been gathered in a central location to be guarded. Your Viper companions have been moved to a room near there. They were carefully sedated."

"Yeah." Mark shook his head. "Angry Vipers in a group are bad news as the Elders' lackeys found out."

"We found that out the hard way too." Colonel Kelly said dryly.

"This is going to be a mess, Colonel." Mark warned. "Your people and theirs will look the same. You are _going_ to have friendly fire." He shook his head. "What if… What if _I_ got loose somehow?" He asked Riloa whose eyes bulged. "What would they do?"

" _Before_ or _after_ losing control of their bodily functions?" The Muton asked snidely enough that more than one of the X-Com troops snickered. Colonel Kelly looked decidedly amused as Mark shook his head. "You lot are _terrifying_. They are ordered to bring you and all of your nest to the doctor. Preferably undamaged, but if need be, she will settle for cadavers." She warned.

"She has got to _catch_ us first. The trap doesn't count since that was to get us all inside." Mark started for the door, only to pause as Colonel Kelly shook her head. "Colonel, I can get most of them chasing me, maybe shooting at shadows. Leave you an opening. My team are going to be moving as quietly as they can, they will stay out of your way."

"My people are disciplined, I cannot say how well Vahlen's are trained." The X-Com soldier seemed to be wrestling with herself and then she nodded. "Hold a moment." Mark stared as she hit controls on her wrist. Then she nodded. "Done. You and your people will show on our HUDs as friendly."

Mark stared at her, dumbfounded. She has just basically given Mark a free pass if he wanted to shoot any of her people in the back!

"Colonel…." Mark said softly. "We can't do that. Our ocular implants are hardwired. We cannot change the settings in the field."

"I know." Colonel Kelly said quietly. "I am trusting your discipline." Mark stared at her and she shook her head. "You could take advantage of that. Ambush us. But what would you gain?"

"What would I gain? _Pain!_ Oshina would kick my ass into next _month_." Mark said fervently. Riloa nodded. Then he updated his team. The stunned surprise of _everyone_ came through loud and clear in their acknowledgments. He spoke aloud both for X-Com and his team. "Weapons _tight_ , team. I say again, weapons tight. X-Com troops are not, repeat _not_ valid targets. We will _not_ be able to tell friendlies from enemies."

"If they point a weapon at a hostage, take them _out_." Colonel Kelly corrected him grimly. Mark looked at her and she shook her head. "None of mine will do that."

"They better not. Let me see..." Mark said as he sent the change via his tactical net. When he closed his eyes, he saw a wireframe of the building. Alina _had_ managed to hack the security systems before going down. Then he saw something that made him freeze. "Damn! I have access to building security. Someone is coming down the hall this way!"

"Walls!" Colonel Kelly snapped and then troops flattened against the walls, her closest to the door, her sword back in hand.

"Riloa, protect Valere or answer to me and Oshina." Mark set himself as the icon on his HUD approached the door. He would only get one chance to make it count, he had to get it right the first time. Luckily, he had been trained for this by the best. He reversed his knife, holding it ready.

"You are not going to do what I _think_ you are going to do, are you?" Kelly asked very quietly.

"Diversion in five… four… three..." Mark was moving towards the door as it opened. It wasn't Jackson. The soldier was female and she was carrying a tech kit of some kind. Her rifle was slung and it didn't matter. She was an enemy. He did what he _did_ to enemies in enemy territory with no way to take prisoners. She was taken completely by surprise and had no chance even to cry out, let alone _resist_. He was on her in moments and the fight was _over_ moments after that.

Valere gagged behind him as he pulled the dead woman into the room and pulled his knife from her throat. He threw her to the side and sheathed his knife before grabbing her rifle. _Then_ he grabbed her ear com and it buzzed in his hands. As he had hoped, his specialized implants _could_ fool it into thinking he was the authorized user. For a while anyway. He put it to his ear and smiled evilly as a chorus of stunned voices reacted to what he had just done.

"Medic down! How the _hell_ is he _loose?_ " Jackson's voice was loudest in the cacophony. "The alien is not responding, but it is alive. He must have knocked it out somehow. Squad two, reorient to cover that door. He will go for his gear or the prisoners! Squad one, report!"

There was no response. Those were probably the soldiers guarding Mark's people. _They_ would likely never respond again to anything. If Mark knew his people, the soldiers were still appearing as alive on the enemy tactical net, but were never going to be dangerous again. Mark decided to throw some oil in the fire before Jackson could get his act together.

"Hello Jackson." Mark said into the com and there was sudden silence on it. He worked hard to keep his tone level, almost conversational. "You know, I was really _hoping_ to meet you again. _This_ time, I am not bound and helpless. I will be a _much_ harder target. Let's see how well you idiots do against someone who can _fight back_. You didn't do so well against me even shaken by a flash-bang last time." He moved towards the door and no one barred his way. One of the X-Com troops actually _crossed herself_ at the sheer evil he was putting into his words.

"You are _dead_ , alien lover!" Jackson snarled, but it was tinged with fear. Good.

"Well, you are a _moron,_ human." Mark put his best chilling laugh into play and more than one of the X-Com troops in the room shuddered. He heard Valere whimper behind him and then Riloa comforting her softly. He continued, his voice soft and silky like one of those old vampire bad guys from human TV. "We tried _your_ game. It wasn't very good. Shall we play _mine?_ I was always fond of hide and seek. I think we should make this interesting though. Muton rules. You hide. I find? You _die_." The last was a cruel whisper as he cut the com.

He checked the rifle automatically. A laser weapon with stunner underneath but not like any of the others he had seen before. One clip and he had no idea how to reload it. He threw the com down and stepped on it hard. It cracked and sparked under his heel.

"And you said you didn't use terror as a weapon." The X-Com psi from before said slowly.

"Never did _before_. Never _had_ to." Mark shrugged and then he grinned widely. "You know? Feels _good_ to scare these creeps." Valere whimpered again and Mark shook his head. "Riloa, stay here. Protect Valere." He commanded.

"Yes, sir!" Riloa snarled, apparently all but automatically since she said it in Muton. She repeated it in English.

"Once was enough." Mark said mildly and turned to the Colonel. "Did you get their frequency?"

"We did." The Colonel was smiling grimly. "And we traced when they switched. We have their coms locked in. Which is why you kept talking." Mark grinned at her. " _Damn_. Remind me _never_ to fight you guys. You _cheat_."

"If you are not cheating, you are not trying hard enough. Speaking of..." Mark pulled a flash-bang grenade from the dead soldier's belt and moved to flank the door. Everyone moved away from it as he flicked it open and tossed the grenade through. He closed it and waited. A muffled screams sounded but he was through the door even as the 'crump' was heard.

As he passed the door, he heard Valere speak. "What _is_ he?"

If anyone responded, he didn't hear. He was busy being what he was. A superbly trained, perfectly honed killing machine. The two soldiers who had been in the hallway were backpedaling, obviously blinded by the flash. If they had been disciplined troops with proper headgear, he would have been in trouble, since they would have been protected from the bang and could have heard the door open. Even blind fire could have hit or killed him as he threw himself forward. They were not and did not fire. His rapid but _aimed_ shots took each center mass. The laser went right through their armor. Both were cooling masses of meat before they hit the floor.

He ran towards the room where Riloa said his gear was and yes, two soldiers were hustling out of it. They saw him running toward them and raised their weapons. Even at a full run, Mark's accuracy was barely inhibited at all. His shot from the under-barrel weapon hit the one on the left and that enemy went down in a heap. The one on the right got off a laser shot, but Mark had moved to the side at the right moment and it missed. Mark fired again, this time with the main weapon and the soldier screamed as the left side of her chest crisped. Probably a lethal wound, but not an instant kill. His weapon buzzed, empty. He threw it at the woman as she tried to correct her aim. The thrown weapon couldn't _possibly_ hurt her in her armor, but the human psyche was hard wired to react to large objects in motion coming at the body. Only the _best_ trained people wouldn't flinch when such happened. She wasn't that well trained. She flinched.

Mark didn't.

He rose from her body, leaving his knife in her and moved to finish off the other. That man spun on the floor, a old style pistol coming up and Mark dodged, just a hair too late. He heard the crack and felt a hammer blow to his gut, but fought through it to slam into his enemy. The man's scream cut off abruptly as Mark's hands found his head and gave a yank. He wasn't as strong as a Muton, but with leverage, one didn't _need_ strength. He grabbed the man's rifle and moved towards the door as his HUD flashed, showing an organ in his belly lined with red. He ignored it.

"Team, status?" Mark asked sub-vocal as he entered the room carefully, weapon muzzle leading him in. Riloa hadn't lied. There were no other guards and their gear was here. He checked it carefully, but there no traps. He grabbed his harness and slid it on.

"The ducts are small and cramped." Cable said softly. "But we are managing. You scared the hell out of them, Lead. They are moving scared but are not shooting at shadows. Yet."

"We don't want that with so many civvies in the line of fire." Mark said as he dropped the purloined weapon and grabbed his own. "Gear is here." He marked the spot on the map that the team shared. "I am going to try and lead these fools a merry chase. Whittle them down."

"Negative, Lead." Karina's voice sounded. "I am above a false ceiling of a large room. I have eyes on the civvies. I see ten enemies in the room with the civilians. They seem to be forting up. They have a sniper and a… ah shit. That looks like a _blaster launcher_."

"Those are priority!" Mark snapped. "If you get a decent shot, take them down. Quiet or not, they _have_ to go." Either one was incredibly dangerous. The sniper was dangerous to any single being but the blaster launcher fired guided projectiles that could do _immense_ damage in a large area. One explosion in the wrong place might kill every civilian in the room depending on the warhead. Armor wouldn't protect much against either weapon. "My intel source said twenty-three and all else she told me has been accurate. That is eighteen minus my five." Mark said softly. "How many did you get?"

"Five? Damn, my honey trap only got us _four_." Karina sounded put out. "We need to up our game."

Nine enemies down in less than ten minutes? Not bad at _all!_ Fourteen left. Against six X-Com and five human nest mates. Not even _close_ to fair odds. For the _enemy!_

"Clear the channel." Marina commanded. "Mark. I can hear the strain in your voice. How bad are you hit?"

"Continue the mission." Mark ignored her query. There was utter silence on the com and then Marina spoke again.

"Mark..." _She_ sounded strained. She knew what that meant. He had time. Not a lot.

"Continue. The. Mission." Mark said flatly. "X-Com is likely going to assault the area where they are holding the civvies. Has anyone found our nest mates?" Negatives came from everyone. "Okay. Jackson seems more bully than soldier. He is likely heading there to take them hostage against our behavior. Well, mine, since he likely doesn't know you lot are loose yet." A rumble sounded in the distance and Mark fought a sigh. Typical.

"Um, they _didn't_ know we were loose. They do _now_." Rachel sounded subdued. She knew what was happening to Mark too.

"Rachel..." His groan had nothing to do with physical pain. "What have we told you about demo _indoors?_ "

"Um, don't?" Rachel replied, hint of her old snark showing even in this situation.

"Tell me that _didn't_ crack the _building_ , Rachel." Mark demanded. " _Again!_ "

The last time hadn't been funny at all except in retrospect. It had taken them almost nine hours to dig out of the mess she had created when the building she had supposed to make a hole in one wall of had fallen all around them. At least it hadn't fallen _on_ them. _No one_ had been happy with Rachel about that. Both Mother _and_ Oshina had punished her for that and she had been in medical care for a week after.

"It didn't." Rachel quickly reassured him. "I used two mini-claymores. No structural damage. But I read two enemies down in that area." Down and probably _shredded_ if he knew his nest mate and her love of things that went 'boom'. Twelve left.

"Stop!" A female voice came over hidden speakers and Mark paused. He didn't know the voice but from the heavy German accent? Probably Vahlen. "You humans, stop! We are not your enemies! We want to talk, not fight. Use the intercom and we can talk this through. We do not want to fight you." He saw a speaker and a switch for 'intercom'. He walked to it, despite pain growing in his gut that he ignored. Mark hit the button.

"Could have fooled me." Mark kept his voice level with effort as pain built further. "I mean, sure. Shoot at us? No biggie. Stun us? No problem. Take a bunch of _civilians_ hostage to draw us out? Not a good idea, you dumb bitch. Such things tend to _piss us off._ "

"Mark, I presume." The woman said slowly.

"And you would be the grand high muckety-muck who thinks that people like Jackson are good enough for this kind of work." Mark didn't bother to hide the scorn in his voice. "I assume you are Vahlen."

"I am." the other replied. "And before you get any ideas, I am not there. This is being rerouted through several cut-outs so we can talk."

"We have _nothing_ to talk about." Mark corrected her. "Whatever deal you had with our Mother ended when your goons tried to take the last sample of bio-agent. Your men paid the price for that betrayal."

"You _really_ expect me to believe that was the _last_ sample?" Vahlen demanded scornfully.

"I have no power over what you believe." Mark said as he moved to the door. The security system showed a clear hall, but he would be careful exiting anyway. "However, some of us have more brains than to _play_ with such things. What _I_ believe is that _you_ and _yours_ have proven to be our enemies. We have _one_ way of dealing with enemies."

"So do I." Vahlen replied evenly. "As of right now, my man is aiming his weapon at the head of _your_ companion. Alley, I believe you call the thing. You will surrender or it will die."

Mark didn't hesitate at all.

"Then tell him to shoot."


	22. Chapter 22

**Agents**

Whatever Vahlen had been expecting Mark to say, _that_ had apparently not been on the list. There was utter silence for a moment and then she laughed. She didn't sound very confident though. Had he rattled her? He hoped so. He didn't want to lose Alley, but if that was what it took, then so be it.

"Your bluff won't work." The doctor said sternly. "I removed each and every device. I know that you are not rigged with the bio-agent anymore."

"And?" Mark asked softly.

A sub-vocal voice sounded in his ear implant. "Keep her talking. Almost in position."

The voice was a male and it was on their private channel. But that _wasn't_ anyone Mark _knew!_ What the hell? No one else had that channel, did they? The voice was familiar, but from where?

" _And_ you are not going to disperse it if your companion dies." The woman explained as if to as somewhat slow child.

"So?" Mark inquired.

"So, surrender or it dies!" The woman snapped.

"No." Mark replied, still calm. "Tell him to shoot. It is what that fool is _best_ at after all, shooting unarmed, helpless beings. Alley would be the _first_ to tell me to tell _you_ to 'piss off'." He treasured the strangled gasp that came from the speaker. "Go ahead, kill her. Kill _all_ of them. Yes, _we_ will be sad. _You?_ If you do that, eventually we _will_ find you and when we _do_ , we will introduce you to a nice, neat little Muton custom that translates approximately to 'The Pain'. Not quite the level of 'The Princess Bride' version, but close. It will take you a _minimum_ of a month to die and those of us who survive this idiotic ambush of yours will _savor every scream_."

It was hard to tell what was scarier. The threat or the way it was delivered. Cold, hard and matter of fact. He wouldn't just do it. He would _enjoy_ it.

"You love her." The woman didn't sound so sure of herself now. Hard to blame her, really. "You don't want her dead."

"So?" Mark repeated. "What do _you_ care? I am part alien. She _is_ alien. Kill her. Kill _me_. It is what you do. _All_ you know _how_ to do." The derision in his voice could have cut steel. "Maybe you were smart once, but this? No. Now you are just another dumb thug. You kick things that get in your way because you don't know any better. You killed our Mother." Fury finally reared its ugly head in his tone and he took a moment to tamp it back down. "For that? You better _pray_ your old buddies find you before _we_ do. Because if _we_ find you _first_? You will _pray_ for death for a long, _long_ time."

"Jackson, wound it. Make it non-lethal but hurting." The woman commanded and Mark's blood ran cold as the sound of a gunshot came over the intercom.

Wait a minute. All of the goons carried _laser rifles_. That had sounded like an _assault rifle._ Would Jackson have an assault rifle instead of a laser?

"Lead." Cable's sub-vocal voice was hushed. "Eyes on our companions. There are _two_ humans in the room. One just _shot_ the other."

"Coms are _not_ secure!" Mark replied the same way as he struggled with what to do. It he tried to help Alley, he put the whole mission at risk. If they failed to save any of the civilians, she would eventually forgive him. Would she forgive _herself?_ Could _Mark?_

"They are, actually." The unknown male voice replied. "Moc Team? That you in the duct?"

"Uh..." Cable's word was not per protocol, but Mark wasn't going to read him the riot act at the moment. Maybe later. If Mark _had_ a later.

"If that is _not_ a Moc tea member, I am filling that duct with holes in five seconds." The man warned.

"Who are you?" Mark demanded. "Identify!"

"Code is 'Tyrannosaurus Regina'." The man replied and Mark recoiled. He _knew_ that code. "This is not how I wanted to meet you guys." That code identified the man as one of _Mother's_ operatives! One of her allies in the fight to free her kids from the Elders. But…

"Code acknowledged. Yes, that is our sniper. Please don't shoot him. Cable, secure the room, I was told they were sedated. Check them." Mark said slowly and would have spoken again, but he was interrupted by the hated voice from the speaker.

"Are you willing to talk _now?_ " The woman on the com demanded. "Or should we blow off another appendage?"

What the-? She didn't _know_ her man was dead? Had she not recognized the weapon sound? Not seen his vitals signs vanish from some display somewhere? Maybe not.

"Do you mind if I take over this conversation?" Mother's operative asked sub-vocal. "I find I have a number of things I need to say to her."

" _You_ do?" Mark inquired the same way. "Uh… Sure. Have at."

When the man spoke again, it was over the speaker. It was also fairly _irate_. " _Doctor_ Vahlen. With all due respect… What the _hell_ do you think you are _doing?_ " He demanded angrily.

"Bradford?" The woman who had been so antagonistic a moment before suddenly sounded unsure. "What? How are _you_ on this channel?"

Bradford? Mark didn't know that name.

"How do you _think?_ " Bradford snapped. "Yeah. You take over a _school_ that _we_ promised protection to and _I_ just going to stand by and _let yo_ _u_ do god knows _what_ to the students _?_ " He scoffed. "You are smarter than _that._ "

"You..." The woman all but gibbered. "You are _there_."

"Yes, I am. I was supposed to lecture here today, you silly bitch. On security of all things! And yes, _I_ carry a gas mask all the time, just in case." Bradford all but barked. "And _you_ have _ten seconds_ to tell the _remainder_ of your people to _drop_ their weapons or they are most likely _all_ going to _die_." Not a threat, a promise.

"Bradford..." The other tried.

"Nine."

"But I..."

"Eight."

"I can't!" The other said sharply. "I _need_ the samples that they…"

" _Four._ "

" _Bradford!_ " Vahlen shouted.

"Moc team, you are clear to take out the heavy weapons at your discretion." That was sub-vocal. The next wasn't. "X-Com, breach on shots. Weapons free on all hostiles. Watch your fire around the civvies. Go, go, go!"

" _NO!_ " Vahlen screamed from the speaker, but it was too late.

Muted rumbles in the distance heralded breaching charges. More than one. Mark closed his eyes and smiled as he accessed the security feeds. He whistled in silent awe as he saw Colonel Kelly charge in and cut _three_ of Vahlen's goons down in as many seconds. She was _scary_ with that sword of hers. Both the sniper and the rocketeer were falling with mortal wounds even the rest of the enemy whirled to face the holes that had been blown in the wall _behind_ them. Too late. The remainder of the X-Com forces came in firing, aiming carefully to avoid hitting the civilians.

The battle, such as it was, was over in seconds.

"What have you _done?_ " Vahlen said weakly when silence fell.

"I just saved _your_ life and the lives of _everyone_ affiliated with you who is not here." Bradford said flatly. "You have _no idea_ how close your group just came to a bloody Armageddon. What is more? I doubt you _care_." Disgust rang in his tone. "After everything else you have done… What was it? _More_ cloning? Some kind of half human hybrid super soldier? Didn't you learn _anything_ from the three you screwed up before?"

His voice faded. Everything faded. Mark put his back to the wall and sank to the floor as the adrenaline that had been coursing through his system gave out and pain scoured through him. A shadow fell over him, but he was too weak to look up.

"Damn." Bradford's voice was hushed as hands took hold of Mark, easing him to a more comfortable position. Mark couldn't fight now. He didn't try. "Ah, shit… Mark? That you? How bad?"

"Yeah. Its me." Mark said quietly. "And… Bad. It got my liver. Even with all my enhancements, _that_ is still the same. Even Elder tech couldn't improve human biology there. They couldn't even add any redundancy. Bullet tore right through it. Implants can hold the toxins for a bit, but not much longer."

"Oh, crap." The strong hands were easing Mark down to the floor. "You get the one who did this?" Mark glared as best he could, not very, and the man chuckled humorlessly. "Sorry, dumb question. You wouldn't be here if you hadn't."

"You worked with Mother?" Mark asked.

"Yeah. For about ten years. Didn't even know she was an alien until less than a year before you lot went to sleep." Bradford said with as snort. "All our business was via dead drops. She gave us some intel, we gave her some. We traded supplies occasionally. Knew she hated the Elders, but had no clue _why_. Then one day, Advent was waiting at a drop site and tried to grab my courier. Imagine _her_ surprise when a _masked_ _Muton_ came out of _nowhere_ , beat the _crap_ out of the _entire_ Advent team, _picked_ her up, _dusted_ her off, _broke_ her bonds, _sent_ her on her way and _vanished!_ She asked me to keep it quiet, I did. There are too few professionals in our line of work. She was one of the few I considered such and she trained you lot well. Damn boy. Hold on! We can't lose you _now_."

"Mother loved her secrets." Mark chuckled and then winced as pain erupted in his gut. "Ow."

"That she did." Bradford sighed. "Don't move. I have medics coming. Can they do anything?"

"Don't think so." Mark said quietly. "What I have seen of your stuff is similar to Advent gear. All my implants are set to self destruct if I am captured and anyone tries removing them. Go in to try and repair or replace? Zap. I am gone and maybe whoever tries to remove them. Advent never bothered to try and fix anything. We were expendable, after all."

"Maybe to them." Bradford said quietly. "Not to your Mother and not to me. I have to try and help you. We owe you."

"Just..." Mark gasped. "Just doing my job." He quipped weakly. "The civvies?"

"Safe." Bradford reassured him. "My people are checking them now, but no sign of any major injuries."

"Good." Mark sighed and then gasped as the pain increased exponentially. "Note to self, do not inhale or exhale sharply while gutshot."

"Not a good idea, no." Bradford's chuckle sounded sad. "Your companions are all alive. Your sniper is guarding them. You did good, kid." A hand patted his shoulder. "You did real good. Even if it is useless, we are going to try to save you anyway. X-Com doesn't quit any more than _your_ people do." He called out. "Medic! Here!"

Shouts were coming from far away. Other shadows were closing around him, but Mark was so tired now he couldn't keep his eyes open. As they closed, a yellow shadow scooped him up and held him close. Her arms were warm and comforting. She was not crying but just _barely_ not.

"Oh, Mark." The Lady was distraught. "You saved Valere. You saved _everyone_."

"Can't save them all." Mark said softly, just content to lie in her arms. He knew it couldn't last, but it was so good to just rest for a moment. "Doesn't mean we shouldn't try. Wasn't X-Com's fault, was _ours_. They were after _us_." He slumped. "When will it end, Lady? My time may be done, but I am scared for the others."

"Me too." The Lady said sadly as she hugged him. "It was not your fault. _None_ of what happened to you was your fault. I give you my word, I will do what I can. I will keep in touch with Oshina. He will do what he can for all of them. You know he will."

"Anyone else hurt?" Mark asked slowly, basking in the warmth she was putting off. His strength was gone. He knew he was fading, dying, but it didn't matter now. Nothing did.

"Cuts and bruises. One broken arm on a security guard who tried to fight. None of your people. None of Colonel Kelly's assault team." The Lady reassured him. She choked a little. "Just you."

"Good. Alley is going to freak." Mark said weakly. "She will… No." He shook himself. He struggled weakly and then gave up when none of his limbs moved. The Lady held him closer. "She _can't_ suicide! _Arisha_ needs her! _Everyone_ needs her!"

"That is _her_ choice, Mark." The Lady chided him gently. "Not yours. Only a fool denies any of your nest choice and I try hard not to be a fool."

"I am sorry." Mark said sadly as his eyes closed completely for the final time.

"Me too."

"So tired. I need..." He sighed. "I..."

"Sleep now, brave human." Someone was singing softly as Mark spun away into darkness from which there would be no coming back. "I pray you will find the solace in death that you were always denied in life."

She held him until there was nothing left. She owed him that and so much more. Only after his mind was fully gone did she start to truly cry with both body and mind. The stars grieved with her.

* * *

Reality

The hovering yellow form flowed back, her tendrils sweeping away from the still form that lay on the ground beneath her. Everyone made way for her.

 _I am sorry._ The Lady said quietly into the minds of everyone present. Sorrow echoed throughout her mind voice. _I couldn't hold him._ _I tried. I tried so hard._ _I hoped that I could hold his mind long enough for you to get him into stasis, but I couldn't hold him._

"You did your best. Thank you for trying." Marina nodded from where she knelt beside Mark. She slowly reached up and slowly closed his staring eyes. "I don't know what to say. I know what humans would say at this kind of time. But we are not human and I don't know what to say. Mark would have known." She was not crying. She wouldn't here and now. Later. In private.

Valere was crying behind the mass of soldiers who stood grim faced, staring at the fallen warrior. Mark's other human nest mates, minus Cable who was still guarding the slumbering Vipers, stood nearby, their faces blank. Riloa stood nearby, not quite part of the group. She too was grim. Bradford stood with his soldiers, his own face a mask.

"You can say whatever you want." Bradford said softly. "Whatever you say won't leave this room."

"Death is part of life." Marina said slowly. "We all knew as soon as we woke way back in that lab that our lives would end. We had no idea what was happening or why. We were in pain and sometimes people were kind, sometimes, they were not. We were all we had. Us and our companions. So many died in that horrible place and we never knew what to say. None of the human religions seemed to fit us."

"I might know something. May I speak?" Colonel Kelly asked slowly. Marina looked at her and nodded. "You all studied human history. Did you learn about the Vikings?"

"Viking is a verb." Marina said more or less automatically and at least two people in the room smothered chuckles. Even Colonel Kelly smiled.

"That it is." The Colonel nodded. "But that is also the common word for the North-men. Some of the proudest, bravest, fiercest warriors who ever sailed the waters of the ancient world in tiny wooden ships in search of glory and plunder. You watched a lot of old human movies. Did you watch one called 'The 13th Warrior'?"

"I..." Marina thought hard and then she inhaled, shock coloring her face.

"I take that as a 'yes'." Colonel Kelly smiled grimly. Then she stepped forward and took a knee. She drew her sword, resting it point down on the floor. When she spoke again, it was deep, reverent. "Lo, there do I see my _father_." When she continued, Marina spoke up.

"Lo, there do I see my _mother_ , and my _sisters_ and my _brothers_." Marina and her nest mates joined in with the Colonel, their voices low. Others nodded and joined the soft chorus.

"Lo, there do I see the line of my people, back to the _beginning!_ " Bradford spoke the words just as reverently as Colonel Kelly did and several of the X-Com troops spoke as well.

 _Lo, they do call to me._ The Lady sounded both sad and proud as she joined the chorus. Valere was speaking through her tears. _They bid me take my place among them._

"In the halls of _Valhalla!_ " _Everyone_ but Riloa was speaking now, every voice low, proud, sad. _She_ looked shocked but nodded approval. "Where the brave may live _forever!_ "

For a moment, there was silence, but then it was broken.

"Actually, it goes: 'Where the brave may await the final battle'." Colonel Kelly corrected quietly. Marina stared at her and the hard bitten X-Com soldier shook her head. "I know that is not the quote. That is the _real_ version. Not Hollywood fantasy. Vikings didn't _do_ peaceful endings. Warriors who died in bed went to Hel, the Cold Lands. A fairly boring place by all accounts. _Valhalla_ was a place to train with warriors of legend and await the call to Ragnarok, the battle that heralded the end of the world and then its rebirth. Not some peaceful meadow. I barely knew him, but Mark didn't strike me as someone would approve of somewhere _boring_."

"Yeah. He never liked harp music either." Marina chuckled a little and bowed her head. "Oshina is going to be pissed." Every one of the nest mates winced at that in unison. "We will likely lose Alley. Even without the bio-agents and triggers in us, none of our companions live very long after their mates die. They just… pine away." Her voice cracked for a moment and she fought for control. She stiffened as Colonel Kelly laid her free hand on Marina's shoulder. She shied away and the woman did not press.

"You are not alone." Colonel Kelly said softly. "Trust may or may not happen between us. But there _is_ a bond between us now. One forged in blood. We have faced death side by side. We are _all_ lessened by your nest's loss. We _owe_ you. If he hadn't held their attention, if _you_ hadn't taken out the heavy weapons, we _would_ have lost people. We would have done it anyway, danger is the job, but you _did_ save some of us. We _owe_ you." She repeated.

"We are the _reason_ this-" Marina broke off as Bradford stepped forward and _slapped her!_ Not lightly! More than one of the nest had hands on weapons as Marina did but none of the X-Com troops moved. She stopped short of drawing her pistol as the man glared at her and gave a snarl worthy of a Muton.

" _Bullshit_." Bradford snapped. " _Vahlen_ is the reason this happened. She thought to play _soldier_ just like she thought to play _God_. For such a smart woman, she is incredibly stupid. She cut the com before we could trace her, but we _will_ find her."

"Not if _we_ find her first." Marina growled and every member of other nest did the same.

 _Her man didn't kill Alley._ The Lady reminded her. _Bradford stopped him._

"Yes, he did." Marina agreed. "Thank you." The words might have been a bit grudging, but they were heartfelt.

"If Vahlen's goon had maimed or killed your nest mate, you would have called blood on her and hers for such a dishonorable action. Your _clan_ would have demanded vengeance on _any_ and _all_ who were affiliated with her. Men, women, children, _pets_." Bradford said softly. Marina looked at him and he smiled grimly. "I knew your Mother, if only from a distance. I know some of what she taught you. I kind of hoped you and yours would wind up working for or with us." He shrugged. "Maybe someday."

"Maybe." Marina shook her head. "I need to be there when Alley wakes. She… She will _not_ be happy." She hung her head.

"Can't blame her." Bradford shook his own head. "Losing loved ones is never easy no matter the species. The body?"

"I don't know." Marina admitted. "Our bodies were always incinerated in plasma. But that was because of the bio-weapon. I don't know what to do."

She stared as Colonel Kelly sheathed her sword. The soldier went to her knees beside Marina. She reached out slowly to take Marina's hand and the woman did not resist, although her _other_ hand was still on her pistol. Colonel Kelly took Marina's hand and laid both of theirs on Mark's still chest.

"I _do_."


	23. Chapter 23

**Shared grief**

Alley knew.

She knew as soon as she woke. She had been turning to fire at a noise that she had heard when everything had gone dark. She wasn't sure if she had fired or not and that bothered her. The whole nest had known that this was likely a trap. If there was _one_ absolute thing that was _guaranteed_ to piss of _every_ member of the nest, it was innocents placed in danger. _Every_ human in the nest remembered being a small, scared, hurting human child and every _Viper_ had done their best to console their charges. To protect them. To keep them as sane as possible in the madness that was their lives. They had lost so many of their kin that the horror had numbed them all, but the grief remained and now? Alley was feeling it again. But this time it was different.

So different.

"Alley?" Marina's soft voice had the Viper opening an eye. As she expected, Marina was sitting beside her on the floor. The room was small, bare and dimly lit. The Vipers always preferred the floor if it was warm enough as few pieces of human furniture were set up for their unique physiology. They could coil up just about anywhere to snooze. Alley looked at her nest mate for a moment and then she closed her eye.

"Mark is gone." It was not a question.

"Yes." So much rawness in that one soft word. Alley's heart nearly broke again. She didn't dare open her mind. Not here. Not now.

"What happened?" Alley was amazed. That couldn't be her voice. Could it? It was too calm. Too clear. Too… Too much. She sank back into her coiled sleeping posture. A human hand touched her arm and she did not react.

"As you have no doubt figured out, it _was_ a trap." Marina's hand was comforting, but Alley felt felt little solace. "Jesse and Arisha managed to supercharge the teleporter and Mark's ocular implants acted as guide for it. The X-Com team came in and freed him from his bonds. They split up. X-Com went to rescue the civilians and Mark went to harry the enemy because he managed to access their coms and proceeded to scare them shitless to get them to focus on him."

"He drew their attention. Some things never change." Was that a _chuckle_ that escaped the Viper's snout? How was she laughing? She was about to cry! Why was she _laughing?_

"No, they don't." Marina's hand was stroking Alley's arm and the Viper felt comforted a little. "Anyway, Mark got three of the enemy. He was moving to secure our gear when he encountered two more. We think he ran out of ammo, but killed them both anyway."

"Of _course_ he did." Alley said, a bit affronted by the thought of her nest mate not being able to take two to one odds. "Then?"

"In the course of the struggle with the second one, Mark took a gunshot wound to the belly." Marina said sadly. "A large caliber armor piercing projectile tore through his armor as if it wasn't even there and hit his liver. The damage was catastrophic." Alley gasped and then her head slumped. Marina's hand shifted to Alley's head, scratching as Mark once had. Marina was crying as she continued. "Even if he had been _in_ a full trauma center..." She trailed off as Alley made a soft noise of despair.

"His implants wouldn't have let anyone treat him. I am amazed that Vahlen woman managed to get the bio-agent capsules out without killing us or herself. He was dead the moment he was hit that badly and he _knew_ it. But he wouldn't quit. Not until his body failed completely." Alley wilted. "And once more, the Elders cost us everything we hold dear." She sighed deeply. "Anyone else hurt?"

"No." Marina continued to scratch, but Alley barely felt it. "None of the civvies were more than bruised. One of the guard had a broken arm, but nothing more. We got them out safely, Alley. We won."

"The Lady's girl?" Alley asked. "Valere, was it?"

" _She_ is bit of a mess, but _physically_ no more than bruised." Marina sighed again, this time in exasperation. "The goons were talking about dissecting her and then _Mark_ apparently went total psychological warfare 'evil monster' in front of her. You _know_ what that sounded like." Alley winced in memory and Marina made a soft noise of agreement. "Yeah, my thoughts exactly. That was _after_ he killed one of the enemy in front of her with a knife." She had a grimace in her voice that Alley shared. Such fights were never pretty.

"Poor kid. That is _not_ a minor psychological blow. She is going to have problems." Alley shook her head a little, careful not to dislodge Marina's hand. "The others?"

"Awake, aware and very pissed off that they missed the fight. You are the last to wake. They sedated you heavier for some reason." Marina continued to scratch. "None of you show any ill effects. Whatever they used to knock you out initially was some kind of cryo burst. It put you into instant cryogenic stasis and nothing more. Then they sedated you all with a cocktail tailored to Vipers specifically, strapped each of you down, locked you in a _cage_ and then locked the _cage_ in a big armored _box_." She had a grin in her voice as she finished.

"Wow. Talk about overkill!" Alley had to smile at that as well. "Think we scared them a little?"

"We scared them a _lot!_ " Marina retorted and Alley chuckled with her. "Then we _killed_ the bastards. _None_ of them got away. _Two_ of them survived the X-Com assault and both of _them_ lost limbs. None of the ones _we_ ran into survived."

"My heart bleeds." Alley said sourly. Then she sobered. "Oshina?"

"I have talked with him." Marina said quietly. "He is... Well, you know Oshina. He doesn't show it, but he is hurting." Alley nodded. "He had Mark pegged as a contact person for both the Lady and X-Com. Now Mark is gone and Oshina is scrambling to find someone to take his place. Several of us put _your_ name forward and he was _not_ happy with us. He threatened to beat us to within an inch of our lives again." Alley did not react. "He said and I quote, 'No one will choose for Alley. She chooses her own path'."

"You know what I am going to choose, Marina." Alley said quietly. "Now that it is actually a choice instead of a hidden weapon of mass destruction, you know what I will choose. I will not go on without the other half of my soul."

"I do know." Marina patted Alley's head and then stroked gently, almost as if she dared not remove her hand for fear of Alley vanishing. "I want to be selfish, Alley. I want to keep you. I want to hug you and hold you and try to make the pain go away. But I can't and I know it." She heaved a sigh. "Before you do...whatever it is you are going to do… Someone wants to talk to you. We were not sure about this, Alley. She is X-Com. The Lady says this particular soldier has never broken her word and she has sworn not to pressure you in any way. She says she just wants to talk."

"Talk?" Alley asked, incredulous. She opened her eyes and Marina was close enough to touch noses with her. They did, a very old game between the Vipers and the humans of the nest. " _X-Com_ wants to _talk_ to _me?_ Why?"

"I don't know, Alley." Marina conceded. "Do you want me to send her away?"

"I don't know." Alley fought a sigh. "Give me an enemy to hit or a plan to execute and I can figure that out. This emotion stuff? I haven't got a clue, Marina." She shook her head. "I guess I can talk to her. What harm can it do?"

"I can stay with you while you talk to her, if you like." Marina offered.

"No." Alley dearly wanted her to stay, but Marina had other responsibilities. "Ami needs you now. You thought you lost her at the camp and you nearly fell apart as a result. Now? We couldn't fight and we lost our Leader. _Everyone_ will be shaken. Go be with your nest mate, Marina." She said kindly. "Jesse and Arisha will need comfort as well. You are good at that. Better than me."

" _You_ need me too!" Marina wasn't angry, not really.

"Not for much longer, nest mate." Alley flicked out her tongue to gently caress Marina's cheek. "Remember me."

"As if _any_ of us could _possibly_ forget?" Marina hugged Alley tight enough to hurt and then released her. She strode for the door and it opened in front of her. She nodded to someone outside. "She is awake, Colonel. We are watching." She cautioned.

" _Colonel?_ " The Viper sat up in her coil as Colonel Kelly stepped in, but this was a _very_ different woman from the armed and armored bad-ass that Alley had met in passing just before the team had deployed to the school. The face was the same, but she wore no armor, carried no weapons and her long hair fell around the shoulders of her jumpsuit.

"You are not in my chain of command, Alley. No need to be formal. Call me 'Jane'." The human warrior was quiet, reserved. "May I sit?"

"Uh, sure. 'Pull up the floor' as you humans say." Alley wasn't sure about this. Not at all. "Um… Jane." She made a face. "This is not what I expected."

"This is weird for all of us." The human groaned a little as she sat and then folded her legs underneath her. Alley looked at her and the human shook her head. "The docs keep saying they put me back together exactly the same after all of my bumps and bruises, but I swear I feel things pop out of place sometimes." Alley just looked at her and the woman shook her head. "I am not here to insult you by saying silliness like 'I understand' or 'It will get better'. I don't understand and I don't know if it will get better. I am not you. I am not psionic."

"How do you know that?" Alley was tensed to fight or flee, but the other did not react.

"One of my men is." The Colonel replied evenly. "He told me when I asked." Alley did not react and Jane shook her head. "Even your own nest doesn't understand completely. They think they do, but they don't." Alley bristled, but the woman wasn't done. "I am not insulting them, Alley. They _cannot_ understand. The _only_ ones of your nest who can _possibly_ understand what you shared with Mark are the two youngest. The young Viper is also psionic. They will bond as you and Mark did, if they haven't already."

"And?" Alley demanded tightly.

"And I _do_ understand." The woman's voice was soft, reflective. "You lost _half_ of your _soul_." She was looking at Alley, but her eyes were far, far away. "Just like I did."

Four words. Four simple words. Four _impossible_ words. At those words, Alley felt her control break and shatter. Suddenly her mind was free to roam. It touched the woman in front of her and… _oh god the pain!_ It was the _exact same pain_ Alley felt! _Exactly_ the same! Alley moaned in horror and swayed back a little as Jane nodded.

"What… What? How?" Alley asked weakly, her fear and anger subsumed by the woman's matching pain. None of it showed outside and if Alley had to guess? She was so tightly controlled in most situations that many psis wouldn't be able to tell. The Viper struggled for control, but it eluded her.

"We had to stop the Elders' Avatar Project." Jane was quiet, her quiet soothing, calming a bit. "You won't know about that. It is a long story but the short version is that the Elders were dying." Alley stared at her and Jane nodded. "They came here to Earth, not to conquer, but because humans could provide a means of their survival. That is, in and of itself, understandable. The _way_ they went about it was horrific."

"That doesn't surprise me." Alley forced the words out, slowly relaxing. The woman's pain was horrible, but she was dampening it somehow? Or Alley was coping better?

"A bit of both." Jane replied to the unspoken questions and Alley flinched. The human nodded. "You didn't speak aloud. You are shocked enough that your shields are down. I may not be psionic, but I am sensitive to them. I can feel your confusion. Shield yourself, Alley. _Focus_."

"You knew a psi." Alley was confused, but she did as instructed. She rebuilt her mental shields as she had been taught and sighed in relief as the pain the X-Com soldier showed vanished. "Very well."

"I did." Jane had a soft, sad smile on her face that looked totally out of place on the warrior woman. "Her name was Jenni and she was _crazy_." Alley stared at her and Jane shook her head. "Do you know the term 'nymphomaniac'?" Alley's eyes bulged and Jane smiled in relief? "You do. I don't need to explain."

"Please _don't!_ " Alley begged. Begged!

"She wasn't actually." Jane looked away, her face turning desolate. "She _played_ one so well the docs _thought_ she was and nearly barred her from field work because of it. I wish they had. It would have destroyed her, but I wish they _had_. She might still be _alive!_ "

"What happened?" Alley asked, despite herself.

"We assaulted the Elders' hidden fortress." Jane bowed her head. "Six of our best against who knew how many of the Elders' best. We were winning and then, she was hit. A pair of Sectopods ambushed her. She wore light armor to move fast but even our heaviest wouldn't have helped her." Alley stared at the human in horror and Jane nodded. "The first blew her cover to pieces, the second? She didn't have a _chance_. The guns on those things blew holes in _tanks_ when the Elders first came. She went down and she didn't get up. I heard her voice in my head and then? It was gone. I um… I lost it. Went berserk. The rest of the fight is a blur. We had to leave her body behind when we fled the crumbling ruin."

"I..." Alley swallowed hard. "You _saw_ it happen."

"I did." Jane agreed. "You didn't see Mark fall. That is both blessing _and_ curse. You need closure, but you might not get it. I am not here to stop you from from doing whatever you plan. I have no right to do that." She reassured the stunned Viper. "I nearly ate a bullet _myself_ three times after we got back from that mess. After the first time, no one tried to stop me."

"You didn't kill anyone, did you?" Alley asked. If she were _half_ the warrior Alley thought she was, she was dangerous at all times. Even now, at rest and unarmed.

"No." Jane smiled at a memory, but it was melancholy. "Hurt two of them, but didn't kill anyone. Idiots tried to grapple me down. They _should_ have stunned me from a distance. Not a mistake _they_ will make again. Their screams pulled me out of my suicidal haze."

"What stopped you the other times?" Alley was still curious despite herself.

"Each time, I asked myself: 'What would Jenni want'?" Jane nodded as Alley hissed the way only a Viper could. "I don't think Mark would want you to do that either."

"He… He wouldn't..." Alley stammered. "You… I..." She tried to speak and couldn't. She didn't move as Jane sighed and reached out to take her hand. The woman was either foolishly brave or still suicidal, but Alley was in no shape to fight right now. When she managed speech, it was a soft scream. " _WHY DOES IT HURT SO MUCH?_ "

"You loved him with all of your heart." Jane just held Alley's hand. "The same way I loved Jenni. As I say, I cannot understand completely, but I _do_ know the pain."

"We were just _things!_ " Alley was crying now and Jane pulled her close. Her warmth was soothing to the disconsolate Viper. "Just weapons. Tools to be used and discarded. Mother and Oshina made us more, but… _Mark_ made me more! He had no _right!_ He had no _right_ to leave me _alone!_ "

Then all she could do was cry as Jane held her.

* * *

A timeless moment later

Alley was out of tears. She found herself coiled around the human woman who still held her gently. Her head was pillowed on the woman's shoulder and her tears had soaked the jumpsuit down the front. The woman didn't seem to care as she stroked Alley's head, crooning softly. Alley was wrung out, exhausted.

"Does it ever get any better?" Alley begged as she just lay there.

"Not that I have seen." Jane replied honestly. "The only good news is that it never gets any worse either. We get better at handling it if we go on. We learn coping mechanisms, strategies for dealing with the pain. Eventually it fades, but then it comes back at odd times. Unless we forget completely, such as a memory wipe, we never forget. And even memory wipes are not guaranteed to keep the emotions at bay. You just don't remember _why_ you are sad."

"And that would drive most people mad." Alley said weakly. She felt Jane nod. "I am sorry."

"For _what?_ " Jane demanded, confused. Alley tried to uncoil, but Jane held her tight. "No. No, I _offered_. This is _not_ on you. This was _my_ choice and I knew what you would do."

"You knew?" Alley asked. "How?"

"Another long story." Jane groaned halfheartedly. "But um, I know another group of humans who grew up with a Viper as a playmate. They said she loved to coil around them when they or she needed comfort. Your coil feels _nothing_ like a death-grip. I know what that feels like." Alley winced and Jane made a noise of agreement. Then she scratched the back of Alley's head. "They said she liked this too."

"Higher?" Alley begged and the heavenly feeling moved up to her usual itchy spot. "What am I going to _do?_ " She pleaded. "It hurts so much, but you are right. He wouldn't want me to die. He loved me and I loved him. I still _do_ even with the pain."

"As I still love Jenni. No one will dare to make any choices for you, Alley." Jane reassured her. "Even now, if you choose an end, no one will stop you. I won't _let them_." Her growl was pure 'dangerous angry predator'. Far from worried, Alley relaxed. She understood this woman.

"I don't want to die." Alley sighed as the truth sank in fully. She didn't. The pain clouded her mind. "But I don't know what to do. _Mark_ always had a plan. I just helped carry them out."

"Like a good sergeant to a good officer." Jane hugged her gently. "Both need the other to do the job. For now? You need closure and we are planning a ceremony for Mark. I think you need to be there. It will give you some closure."

"A ceremony?" Alley asked. "They always just dumped our corpses in a furnace."

" _We_ are not the Elders." Jane said sternly enough that Alley recoiled a little.

"No, you are not." Alley thought about things for a long moment and then she nodded. "I will go. What kind of ceremony?"

"An ancient one."


	24. Chapter 24

**Memory**

Alley was still very sad.

But she was also trying to be patient. The nest needed her and while she still wasn't sure if she trusted X-Com and Colonel Kelly, the human hadn't played her false. The rest of the nest had been both shocked and overjoyed when she had slithered into their common room. They had been listening, of course. No one would betray Colonel Kelly's confidence even if the revelation of a somewhat softer side to the hard bitten warrior had been a surprise. As scary as _they_ were? _She_ was _just_ as scary. Luckily, she was _also_ just as professional. She likely knew they had been listening out of protectiveness towards Alley and also likely wouldn't care as long as they didn't do anything dumb with the information they had gleaned. So they wouldn't. They all liked their health.

"Thank you, but I can't eat another bite, Arisha." Alley begged off when Arisha tried to push her food closer. Vipers didn't need to eat the same things as Earth reptiles, thank goodness. Just the _thought_ of swallowing a live rodent made Alley gag mentally. Arisha smiled, picking up on her fellow psionic's thought and Alley nodded. "Have you eaten?"

"Yes." Arisha nodded as she sat back down beside Jesse who smiled at his companion. "I don't know if I have said it. It is good to see you."

"You have said that few times." Alley smirked at Arisha's expression. A few _dozen!_ But then she became serious. "Arisha, I need you to shield very carefully around me. My own shields are weak at the moment and my emotions are all messed up. I don't want to hurt you."

"I know." Arisha nodded, her tone sober. "I am. You feel odd." Alley looked at her and Arisha seemed to wilt. "I know you have the right to all sorts of feelings right now, but you don't feel like I would have expected you to."

"How so?" Marina asked from where she sat cleaning Ami's underarm scales with a soft cloth. Vipers had a hard time reaching some parts of their bodies, so their companions had always assisted in cleaning. The Vipers reciprocated of course. Alley sternly ordered her mind away from what it as thinking about as Marina looked at her.

"I am not sure, Marina." Arisha made a face. "She doesn't feel _wrong_ , she just feels _odd_."

Alley groaned as Marina's face took on a familiar aspect. The team medic was both curious and worried. She knew what that meant. More than one of the others had been looking worried, but smiled as Alley cringed dramatically.

"Now you have done it." Alley griped. "Marina..." She begged as Marina finished cleaning Ami's scales and rose, her companion rising with her. "Don't."

"Alley." Marina moved to Alley's side as Ami did the same. Ami didn't speak, she just coiled around Alley gently. "You know how worried we all are. You know how shocked and sad we all are." Alley hung her head as Marina reached out to cup her cheek in gentle fingers. "You had the right to go. You chose not to. Colonel Kelly may have guided you a little, but she didn't make you stay. It was your choice. I am glad, but I am still worried about you."

"I know." Alley sighed as Marina produced her scanner and started sweeping Alley's body with it. Ami just hugged her. "Please don't take tissue samples in here or you may wind up with stomach samples that you didn't want."

"Nausea?" Marin asked. Alley glared at her and she chuckled. "Alley, it is my job to worry about you." Alley grumbled but shook her head.

"More nerves than nausea." Alley said after a moment's thought. "Even with Arisha stuffing me, I am not going to lose my meal."

" _Good._ " Everyone else chorused and Alley had to smile. Viper upchucks were messy as hell and often contained traces of their venom. They had gotten _lots_ of experience in how to clean such up as kids. Far too much.

Mark had…

Alley stiffened as memory flooded in and panic grabbed her again. She barely felt Ami's coils tighten around her. She _did_ feel a hand on her crest. Then other hands were on her, other coils around her. She took a deep, shuddering breath and then nodded as the mind numbing fear faded.

"I am okay." Alley said weakly. "I am okay."

"No, you are not." Marina contradicted her as many hands stroked her scales, soothing, calming. The coils around her just held her as she shuddered. "None of us are. But you have it the worst as a psi. Anything we say, anything we _do_ can trigger memory. And memory _will_ trigger these panic attacks."

"I _refuse_ to let my memory of _Mark_..." The all but crying Viper said his name deliberately. "...hurt me. He wouldn't like that." She took a deep breath and forced herself to relax.

"Good girl." Marina sounded nearly in tears. She took a deep breath and her voice steadied. "Alley, I cannot find anything wrong with you except the obvious. You know that strong emotion can change the body. Shock and stress likewise. We will need to monitor you close and you need to expect several days in the best scanners I can find, borrow, scrounge or steal." She warned and Alley nodded.

"I know." Alley said with a sigh. "I am not looking forward to sleeping tonight."

"You _will_ sleep with us and you _will_ take a sedative and psi suppressant." Marina's words were not a suggestion. "We will take care of you, nest mate."

Alley didn't bother fighting. When Marina got _motherly_ , sane people _ran_. But she couldn't run. She didn't have anywhere to go. What was more? She didn't want to.

She might as well surrender to the inevitable.

* * *

Later

Alley was no stranger to odd dreams, but this one was odder than usual. She was lying on her stomach on the gurney again after the capsule had been removed from her head. She had been terrified when she had woken in that horrible round room, but now? She wasn't afraid. She was calm. Was this a dream then? A nightmare? She shouldn't be having a nightmare after Marina had given her something strong to sleep. This didn't feel like a nightmare.

The evil doctor wasn't there. Someone _else_ was.

"Hello, Alley." Mother reached out to caress Alley's scales as she always had, careful not to hurt the Viper. Mutons were so much stronger than humans or Vipers that it was easy for them to cause harm even when they did not wish to. Mother had learned early on how to curb her strength around her charges even when angry. She was incredibly gentle when she wished to be.

"Mother." Alley whimpered.

"If you are seeing this, Alley, then I am not there to help anymore. I am sorry, Alley." The Muton said quietly. "I am sorry about so much I did, so much I didn't do. So much I _couldn't_ do."

"You did the best you could." Alley said weakly. "We were too much for anyone."

"You lot drove me crazy, but that is part of the definition of offspring, Alley." Mother said gently. "We bring them into the world or acquire them somehow, we raise them as best we can, but then we have to let them go. I couldn't let you go. The Elders demanded it, but… It as more than their evil."

"You loved us." Alley said weakly but Mother continued as if she hadn't heard her.

"I didn't expect to love you. I thought it would be a burden." The Muton chuckled a little. "And to be honest, it was. But it was worth it. Even with all of the terror, silliness, craziness and the sometimes messiness, I would not have traded you lot for anyone else, not even more children of my own."

"Children..." Alley whispered. "But..."

"I know what you are going to say. Yes, Alley." Mother seemed to hear that. "Yes, I was fertile even after I came here. I never said. Everyone assumed I wasn't."

"No!" Alley breathed, horrified. "No, no, no! Mother, no!" She begged, reaching for the Muton.

"You know better, Alley." The Muton warned as Alleys hands got nowhere near her. "This is not real. This is a memory."

"A memory?" Alley asked, confused. "When did this…? Oh. This must have happened when I was just out of surgery. Just after the capsule was removed."

"Good girl." Mother smiled at her and Alley felt warmth rise as it always had when Mother approved. "I am not very psionic, but I have a few tricks. Some that even the Elders don't know about. This memory was to remain hidden until you needed it. You do. Something bad has happened." It was not a question. "I don't know what it is, or why it happened, but… Whatever happened hurt you sorely. Probably something to do with Mark. You lost him and chose not to follow him."

" _I couldn't help him!_ " Alley screamed, but it seemed to go nowhere.

"I cannot choose for you, Alley." Mother said quietly. "I cannot take free will from you as the Elders did so long ago. What I _can_ do is give you a little bit of help in the future. This fragment of me is so very limited, but I will be available if you need me. All I can do is advise and perhaps comfort. Only here while you sleep. Right now, though? You need to see what I made you forget, Alley. Are you ready?"

"No." Alley begged but Mother glared at her and Alley had to smile. Same old Mother. "Yes, Ma'am."

 _Suddenly, Alley was back on her stomach on the gurney. She was sick. She was going to barf! A hand touched her head and the sickness faded._

 _"Easy, Alley." Mother's hard voice was calming as always. "Slow breaths, **deep** breaths. Don't be sick."_

 _"M...Mother?" Alley asked as she did as instructed. As always, Mother would be obeyed.. "What- What happened? There were **humans** in that transport that landed! They started **shooting!** I..."_

 _"I know." Mother caressed her crest and Alley relaxed despite her confusion. "I didn't have time to warn you. We had to move far too fast or the results would have been horrific. Alley, I have to tell you a lot of things. Some you may accept easily. Others, you won't be able to accept quickly, if at all."_

 _"What have you done?" Alley begged._

 _"I betrayed the Elders." Mother said simply. Alley would have recoiled in horror, but her body wouldn't move. "After what they did to you and your companions? Oh hell yes, I openly betrayed them and didn't have moment's qualm."_

 _"I… Mother!" Alley begged. "You can't say such things where others can hear!" Alley knew her Mother's feelings of course, but she **couldn't** say such aloud! Someone would **hear!** Report it! If the Elders heard… If they even **suspected!** They would act and the nest would die! All of them._

 _"No one else can hear us. You are free of the Elders, Alley." Mother said firmly. "I am trying to get Mark and the other humans out as well. Alina was hurt very badly and we had to leave her to Advent medical care. We will not leave them there. Jesse and his companion are the last of the other nest. We are trying to get them out of the lab too."_

 _"Free… But..." Alley couldn't fathom that._

 _"Alley, I have made some deals to save you kids that I shouldn't have." Mother said firmly. "I have done things that stain my soul, that my own **son** would kill me for if he discovered the truth of my dishonor. Oshina is what he is. He always has been, he always will be. He has an ironclad alibi for what I just did. But you? **You** need to remember this. I did something else, Alley. Something **wonderful**. Something **no one** but Easer knew **anything** about."_

 _"Mother?" Alley asked, even more confused._

 _"Easer was a **very** sneaky being, Alley." Mother said with a small smile. "She was **not** happy with what the Elders planned for you to do. She broke their programming of her and immediately laid plans to help you all and maybe humanity as well. To fix what was broken. I hope to be there, to explain, to guide you lot through the bad that I know is coming, but… I have to plan for the worst." Her hand was now on Alley's head and Alley felt psionic power from her mother. It was so warm that Alley basked in it. "You won't remember this until you need to."_

 _"Mother, don't **leave** me!" Alley implored as her world turned shades of blue and green._

 _"Part of me will always be with you, Alley." Mother promised. "But you have a job to do. Innocents who need help. Advent used you lot to enslave. Easer meant for you to be be both her revenge on the Elders and breakers of chains. Good luck, Alley. I love you."_

 _"But, what am I to **do**?" Alley all but shouted the last as she faded._

 _"Go for a swim."_

Alley jerked awake, aware of warm bodies all around her, scaled and not.

 _Alley?_ Arisha's worried voice sounded in Alley's mind. _You shouldn't be awake after what Marina gave you. Did you have a nightmare?_ A soft hand touched her crest. _You don't feel scared._ _You need more sedative._ _I will wake_ _Marina_ _._

 _No._ Alley said quickly. _She needs sleep too._ _She has been hurt just as badly as I have been by this. She loved Mark too, in her own way._ _I… I didn't have a nightmare. I…_ _Ah hell. See for yourself. I have no idea what this means._ She sighed and opened her mind carefully to the other, trying to keep her pain from Arisha. From the feel, she didn't quite succeed but Arisha did not react.

 _Ah… Umm. Hmmm._ Arisha sounded just as confused as Alley felt once she had seen the memory. _Mother implanted a memory fragment? And left you a mission?_ _I know nothing of this._

 _None of us know about this._ Alley said weakly. _I don't know anyone who would._

 _I might._

* * *

The next morning

It had taken quite a bit of doing, but Alley and Arisha had managed to get some quiet time alone. They had begged off, saying they needed to train psionics and that _was_ true. Just not the whole truth. They had fried the surveillance devices as a matter of course. The team knew psionics and bugs didn't mix, but they tried anyway. They were worried, but this? _This_ had to stay secret for now.

Alley stilled as the door chimed. She wasn't ready for this. But she had to be. She rose to an erect posture and smiled as Arisha copied her. "Enter." As she has expected, the woman did not come alone. Colonel Kelly looked as if she had been in the field. The man beside her wasn't anyone Alley knew, but Arisha had explained. This man was one of Mother's operatives. An _X-Com agent_ had been _working_ with her Mother. The mind _boggled_. "Agent Bradford?"

"The same." The man nodded. "How are you feeling, Operative Alley?"

"Better after a full night's sleep even with Marina dosing me heavy after I woke up once." Alley admitted.

"She worries about you." Jane Kelly said with a grin. She nodded to Arisha. "Operative Arisha, your message was unexpected, but Syndrome _can_ be discrete on occasion when he is not nose deep in a bottle. How can we be of assistance?"

"What woke me wasn't a nightmare, although I _fully_ expect to have those." Alley wasn't looking forward to them. Both humans nodded. "It was weird."

Both humans listened in silence as she explained. Then Colonel Kelly looked at Bradford whose face was blank. "Boss?"

"What have I told you about calling me that, Jane?" Bradford said severely, but his eyes were twinkling. Both Viper grinned as Jane stuck her tongue out at him. "Mature, Colonel. _Real_ mature. How would you like to be a squaddie again?"

"Say the word, Central." Jane said sourly. "This diplomacy stuff is for the _birds!_ I can't believe the _Commander_ of all people thinks I am cut out for it."

"You are better at it than you think." Central said quietly. "You keep your temper and your reputation makes _everyone_ step back and reconsider before starting to throw punches. That is a good thing."

"Give me a straight fight any day!" Jane groused but then shook her head. "Anyway… Do you have any idea, Central? Or I say 'Operative Bradford'?" She asked sourly. He apparently hadn't told _anyone_ about that. Then again, secrets were what he and Alley's nest _did_.

"Don't spread that." Alley said quickly even as Central opened his mouth. He looked at her and nodded. "People like our nest and him work best in shadow. Much of what we do is distasteful or just plain _wrong_ , but it is _needed_. He _is_ loyal to your organization. Never doubt that. After all I have heard of what he has seen and done? He would never betray you."

"'Never' is a very long time, Alley. I cannot think of what might make me do so, but anything is possible." Bradford said quietly. "No one knows what the future holds, not even your Mother did although she apparently planned this just as thoroughly as she did anything with _me_."

"She told me to swim!" Alley protested. "I _can_ , but she didn't say where! Or what to do."

"I know she had other operatives." Bradford mused. "I have recognition codes for them. Do you?" Alley nodded. "Good. So, it stands to reason that whatever you are supposed to do will happen when you swim and if she didn't tell you to find someone, then someone should find you."

"I don't like this." Arisha said grimly. "Yes, we Vipers can swim. We cannot swim as well underwater as you humans can without breathing gear."

"They didn't put gills on you?" Jane asked quizzically and froze as both Vipers looked away. "They _did?_ " She breathed, horrified.

"They _tried_. The pair they did it to in Arisha's nest couldn't breathe normal air as well as water." Alley said softly. "They drowned as soon as they came out of the machine."

Arisha nodded, tears starting to fall. Alley hugged her and Jane stepped forward, her hand coming up slowly. She looked at Alley who nodded and Jane started stroking Arisha's crest.

"Damn." Bradford shook his head. "Well, we have two days until the Lady's artisans finish the long-ship you asked for, Jane. Time to figure something out. Maybe." He made a face. "Even if I _do_ think you have finally _flipped_. Really? A _Viking_ funeral?"

"If we are going to do it, we are going to it _right_." Jane said flatly. "He deserves no less. Neither does his nest."

"Crazy woman."

"Duh."


	25. Chapter 25

**Wet work**

Alley had known that telling the nest about this new oddity would not be fun, but she had never imagined _this_ response.

"Marina, I can't _move!_ " Alley complained as Marina fiddled with the gear on her back yet again. The suit that Alley wore was armor and so much more. It combined limited mobility, tracking, protection from the crush of the depths, breathing apparatus, and communication. It was _heavy_ as _hell!_ "I will sink like a rock!"

"One more time, Alley." Marina said firmly. "Arisha says it was real, so, we have to try one more time. But we are _not_ putting you in danger."

"I should have just _gone_ and _done_ it." Alley grumbled as Marina settled the rebreather a bit more snugly in its place on Alley's back before checking the hoses that led to Alley's helmet yet again. "This is ridiculous."

"if you _had_ , all kinds of people would have been unhappy." Oshina interjected from where he stood and Alley nodded.

The Clan Leader had flown in the day after Alley had explained to the nest what she had seen in her memory. He didn't seem happy, but then again? He never did. He and the Lady were in talks and the Lady was cautiously hopeful for being able to use the gene altering machines that their Mother had acquired to help the Mutons. He had taken time from his busy schedule to speak privately with Alley and she appreciated it. He wasn't gentle. He didn't _do_ gentle normally, but in his own way, he had been kind.

"True." Alley sighed and gave in. She did not resist as Marina pulled the straps tighter even though it hurt. "I don't understand what she meant. There were few who could have even accessed that information. Why make it so cryptic?"

" _Few_ doesn't mean _none_ , Alley." Oshina reminded her. She made a face in her helmet and nodded. "You know what the Elders would have done if they had even suspected she was disloyal."

Alley made another face and nodded again. Such wouldn't have been pretty. Even here, even now, after all this, Oshina was still displeased with his progenitor's dishonorable tactics. They had worked, but he didn't like them.

"Okay." Alley sighed deeply and looked at Marina who gave her a thumbs up. "Egh, I hate this part."

It took every ounce of willpower Alley had not to jerk the helmet off and throw it away when a hiss sounded and cold fluid started filling it. Marina took hold of one of Alley's hands and Ami the other as the fluid reached her mouth and nostrils.

"Just breathe normally, Alley." Marina said into on their private channel when Alley instinctively held her breath. "It is oxygenated. You know you won't drown."

Alley made a rude gesture at her and then recoiled a little as Oshina grabbed her hand. He didn't do anything. He just held her hand and she slowly relaxed. Alley's lungs were burning and the need to breathe was becoming overpowering, but she couldn't override her body's instincts. No matter what her brain said, her nose and mouth said that if she took a breath, she would drown. Finally, she was forced to exhale and the fluid flowed down the air pipes. She gagged, instinctively trying to fight. Trying to expel the fluid that her hind brain was saying was killing her. Oshina held her hand and more than one was holding her other as she heaved and gasped. Finally, the sensations faded and Alley relaxed. She slumped a bit and turned to look at Marina who nodded.

"I know it sucks, Alley." Marina said quietly. "But that fluid will provide counter pressure and keep you alive if you go deep. You have almost twenty-four hours of oxygen in that tank. So even if you _do_ sink, we will find you."

"This feels _really_ weird." Ally couldn't manage normal speech with fluid in her lungs, but she could mostly make herself understood sub-vocal. "Mother said 'swim', not 'dive'."

"We tried a pool and a freshwater lake, Alley. Salt water is the only other place to try." Ami reminded her. "We have a day before the ceremony. Arisha? You ready?"

The rest of the nest stood nearby, mostly with worried faces. Vipers could swim and Alley was pretty good at that, but looking out over the open ocean was daunting even to such indomitable spirits. The Atlantic Ocean in all its glory and hidden danger lay spread before them as they stood on a beach in the middle of what had once been the East Coast of the United States.

"Yes. I will maintain contact as best as I can. She is _really_ unhappy." Arisha slithered up to lay a hand on Alley's shoulder. "Be calm, nest mate. You are not alone."

 _No. You are not._ Was it Alley's imagination that she heard another voice? A soft, calm male voice from far away? It seemed somewhat familiar, but that wasn't anyone that Alley knew and when she tried to focus on it, the need to faded as well as the memory of the voice.

"Let's get this done." Alley sent to everyone. "I don't want to fail Mother."

She tried to slither forwards, but she was too heavy to move. Vipers were strong, but there were limits and Marina's paranoia had surpassed them. She expected her nest to help her and was shocked when Oshina _himself_ picked her up with both hands and carried her towards the ocean. She was trying to from a protest as he hefted her. The Clan Leader wasn't meant for menial labor. No one else seemed inclined to argue.

"Hush." Oshina's soft voice was for her ear holes alone. "I wasn't here for Mark. I am for you."

Alley all but collapsed in shock at that. Oshina blamed himself? But… It wasn't _his_ fault! Vahlen's goon had shot Mark.

"You think Mother was the only one who loved you lot?" Oshina asked very quietly as he carried Alley deeper into the water. Alley looked at him and slowly shook her head, not trusting her limited vocal communication. He set her down in water that was up to the Muton's waist and she floated. She set the suit to go lower and it did until only her head was above water. Oshina nodded. "Go on. We are watching."

Alley turned to see her nest staring at her from the shore. Oshina made no move to go back to shore and Alley nodded to him. She made her buoyancy slightly positive so she was going up and then started off, using the suits propulsion jets to ease here and there and then settled into a slithering motion that mimicked her normal mode of transport. She was sliding across the top of the water fairly quickly when it happened.

"Incoming unknown!" Cable called. "Underwater. Oh crap! That is a _fin!_ _Shark!_ _Alley!_ _Get out of the water!_ " He called. More than one of the nest had weapons in hands for all the good they would do against an underwater predator.

Alley was glad to see Oshina was backing towards the shore even as the Viper spun that way herself. He was brave, he wasn't foolish. He had little chance against such a predator in its own environment if he wasn't prepared. That wouldn't stop him from fighting, Alley knew, but she was-

 **Wham!**

Something slammed into Alley and she was suddenly spinning. The last thing she heard before passing out was Arisha's mental scream.

* * *

Somewhere

She wasn't dead.

Alley was floating in to something that glowed green. Something so familiar. Nothing hurt. She was listless. Drugged?

 _A-137._ A cold voice spoke inside Alley's head. _You return._

 _Return?_ Alley asked, confusion rising before falling back. That had been her designation before Mark had named her. Mark. The memory hurt, but the hurt was not crippling now through whatever held her.

 _You will serve._ The other said sharply as agony bored through Alley's head, leaving her weeping when it faded. But then anger rose, an old familiar friend, sweeping the lethargy from her mind and leaving rage in its wake.

 _ **I serve my nest!**_ Alley shouted in her mind _**Not you!**_

 _No!_ _Don't resist!_ Another voice called, but it was to late. Fresh agony tore consciousness from Alley again.

* * *

Later

When Alley woke again, she was lying on something hard. Not metal. Stone? She heard water dripping all around her and did not move as something nudged her tail. Whatever it was, it wasn't metal. It felt like flesh, but no flesh Alley had ever felt.

"I know you are awake." A somewhat familiar voice said quietly. "That was _dumb_. The facility AI is about as smart as a box of rocks, but resistance _always_ makes it use force." Alley did not react. She tried her sub-dermal com, but it wasn't _there!_ It had been removed? That was _impossible!_ They would have self destructed! Killed her! The other sighed a little. "I know you are confused. I know you are scared. You have cause for both. What is your name?"

"This unit's designation is A-137." Alley replied in a robotic voice and was stunned when the other laughed. "What?"

"Nice try." The other was still chuckling. "If you had done that with the AI, it wouldn't have stunned you so badly. Like I say, it isn't that smart. Name?" He inquired. Again, Alley did not move. She surreptitiously gathered her guts in to spit and the other spoke quickly. "Oh crap! Don't do _that_ here! Code: Plesiosaur Regina."

Alley swallowed her spit even as it burned. _Another_ of Mother's agents? She opened her eyes to wonder. She was lying on bare stone in what looked like a natural cavern. Sunlight filtered in from somewhere and she had to admit, the view was beautiful. She was not wearing any of her gear now. And-

 _She was being watched!_

Alley stared at the head that stood up out of the water. It was obviously some kind of aquatic creature. She had studied a few with Mark. This one looked sort of like a bottle-nose dolphin, but not entirely. The deice that stood up on its back was obviously a weapon of some kind and it looked like Elder manufacture. There was also a small device over where the blow hole would have been on an Earth dolphin. It too looked like Elder tech. The odd being was looking at her expectantly.

"Do I say 'Ark Ark'?" Alley asked quietly.

"If you call me 'Flipper', I _will_ shoot you." The other warned and his weapon swiveled to aim at her. He was totally serious, so Alley dropped that joke.

"I won't." Alley promised. "At least, not when I am under your gun." Said weapon turned away from her and she relaxed a little.

"It is a stunner, but they hurt. You are bad, girl." The other said sourly. Then he chuckled. "I like you. You are exactly as she described."

"What is going on?" Alley asked, looking around. The area wasn't that large. The only access that she could possibly fit through was the pool that the aquatic agent was in. "Where am I? My nest is going to go _nuts_."

"They are." The other sighed. "But you are over a thousand kilometers from where you were taken. Plus almost two thousand meters _down_." Alley shivered and then other's head moved up and down. A nod? "This is the only privacy we have in this horrible place. I brought you here because if you fight in the facility, at best, you will die and at worst? A whole lot of innocents will die."

"What?" Alley asked, flummoxed. "A facility? Underwater?" She paused. "Wait. The Elder's fortress was underwater!"

"Exactly. They came to the oceans first and set up shop here before starting to conquer. The Elders made this place to be self sustaining." The other said sadly. "It is. Easer's manipulations caused things to go haywire. Mother came and did what she could, but she had to leave and we have had to endure. She promised to send help. But… She said a _pair_. You are alone and you are hurting. Your partner?" He asked gently. Alley shook her head. The agent stared at her, sympathy I seeping out of it to Alley's jangling senses. "Oh, no. I am sorry."

"Why not call for help?" Alley asked. "The Elders are gone."

"We _can't_." The other snapped and then spoke up again. "Sorry. After so long enslaved, it gets to us all. We have tried. Others of us have fled, but the facility guardians..." He broke off and looked away. "They kill any who they find outside the bounds. Any who transgress inside are dropped outside to be eaten."

"Eaten." Alley said slowly. "Sharks?" She asked and the other nodded. "I assume one was what grabbed me."

"Yes." The other replied sourly. "The AI received a transponder burst and sent guardians to seek it. They knocked you unconscious and brought you back for study."

"Study." Alley put a wealth of unhappiness into that word and the other nodded again.

"The Elder may be gone, but the facility is too stupid to realize that and even if it _did?_ " The other sighed deeply. "It will follow its program. Hold the conquered territory for the Elders even if they are gone."

"So, what is it doing?" Alley asked.

"It is modifying Earth sea life into, well..." It made a sour noise. "Things like me."

"It called my by my old designation." Alley said slowly. The creature nodded again. "This place is familiar." She paused and then shook her head. "I am Alley.

"It should be." The other smiled widely at her. "You were made here just as I was. My name is 'Ray'."

" _Ray_?" Alley was more than a bit surprised by the mundane name and stared as the dolphin thing seemed to wilt. "What?"

"Okay..." The other gave a long suffering groan. "My name is..." He gave a series of clicks, whines and piercing barks that had Alley covering her ear holes. Was that a language? If so, she didn't know it. "Which translates to 'Brilliant Ray Of Sunshine That Pierces The Gloomy Depths'." His head shook. " _Please_ call me 'Ray'." He begged.

"Ray it is." Alley said as she lowered her hands. "What do you think _I_ can do, Ray? Killing an AI is not easy and I don't have any weapons. Can we wait for my team?"

"No." Ray sighed. "I could take you to heal for a bit after it hurt you so badly, but I have to take you back when it demands you. It took out your implants. All of them." Alley stared at him, shocked even now and he nodded again. "Which is why your Mother came here in the first place."

"Looking for a way to free us." Alley inhaled as realization struck. "And she found _you!_ " Horror followed realization. "She _left you here?_ "

"She didn't have a choice." Ray reassured her. "She wanted to take at least a couple of us, but none of the pod would go if all of us couldn't."

"Noble." Alley's mind was whirling. "So, this is… what? A lab? A breeding facility? What?"

"All that and more." Ray had a smile in his voice now. "It is not a _bad_ life, Alley. The AI does monitor us and take care of our needs. It just...we are not free. We didn't know what the word meant until your Mother came and activated Easer's hidden programming. We have worked hard since to maintain the illusion of being the perfect slaves. As we did when your partners came here and were altered. When you first bonded to them. Here."

"This was _Easer's lab!_ " Alley stared at the walls, shocked. "This is where she _killed_ Mark and the others!" She was crying and Ray nudged her gently. "She took _everything_ from them. She hurt them so _badly_."

"From one point of view, yes." Ray said quietly. "From another? _She_ was a slave, Alley. Do you think she had a choice?"

"She broke their programming." Alley snapped. "And… Mother killed her." She slumped. "I… I loved my partner. He is gone but Easer hurt him. Even if it wasn't her who brutalized and tortured him, she _did_ hurt him."

"Alley." Ray's voice was super soft now. "Let go of your fear."

"I am not afraid! I am angry!" Alley snapped.

"So am I." Ray replied. "But you cannot be who you must if you cannot move past this. If the facility take you back in as you are, it will dissect you. It is currently studying your implants to see how the agent trigger was removed. It will implant you with a new one."

"I have no partner." Alley said weakly.

"I know." Ray replied.

"It will kill me." Alley winced. Part of her still wanted to die. A small part, thank goodness.

"There is another way, Alley, but it is permanent." Ray said gently. "You won't be able to undo what Easer did. What she laid in your cells so long ago."

"What?" Alley demanded. "What are you _saying?_ "

"Easer planned this, Alley." Ray explained. "All of this. Not the particulars. She didn't know if it would be you or another Viper, but she knew that sooner or later one of you would come back. She knew that the Elders or someone like them would try to use you. Don't let them. Your nest can be trusted. No one else. Not even me." He warned. "If it comes down to your nest or my pod? I _will_ choose my pod."

Alley took a deep breath and focused herself. "What do I do?"

"Jump in." Ray moved to the side a bit. "It will hurt. Birth always hurts."

"I am sterile." Alley said softly as she slithered to the pool.

" _Are_ you?" Ray asked. His tone wasn't mocking. It was… anticipatory?

She slid into the water and the universe exploded behind her eyes as Ray shot her.


	26. Chapter 26

**Rebirth**

Alley had been ready for almost anything, or so she thought.

Nothing happened.

Something had, when Ray had shot her, but she couldn't figure out what. She saw odd things all around her. Floating in the air? She looked down at the water she was floating half submerged in and it looked weird. It wasn't the fluid she normally saw when she looked at water. Instead, it was many, many tiny little things pressed together. She jerked as something nudged her. She glared at Ray, but he hadn't moved..

"What is happening?" Alley demanded, but Ray didn't react. He didn't seem to have heard her. She tried to swim up to him, but whatever she was in felt like tar or something incredibly sticky. It was holding her in place. She looked down at herself and screamed.

She wasn't herself. Her form wasn't the scales, muscles and sinew that she had known all of her life. Her body was tiny little things that seemed to be heaving, straining to fly apart. She tried to touch herself and her hands wouldn't move.

" _NO!_ " The Viper screamed and then she wasn't alone.

"Alley! You made it!" The Lady appeared hovering nearby, the Ethereal's form smaller than usual. "Alley? Are you-" She broke off and then her tone tuned jubilant. "Oh! _She did it!_ She _actually_ _did it!_ Oh my god! That crazy alien _did it!_ "

" _Lady!_ " Alley put a wealth for terror, anger, sadness and every other emotion she could think of into that soft scream. " _Help!_ "

"I will." The Ethereal promised. Her tendrils swept down to Alley and touched her shoulders. Her love swept over the terrified Viper and Alley relaxed as peace swept through her. Alley's body wavered and changed back to the one she had known since her creation. "There. Better?"

"Yes." Alley looked at the water and it was water again. Ray hadn't seemed to move. "Is he-? Am I-? What is going _on?_ " She begged.

"You have stepped, well _slithered_ ,..." The Ethereal chuckled. "...into a far, far larger world than the one you knew, dear Alley. How much did you study about the foundations of psionics?" Her question was careful.

"A bit." Alley admitted. "I mean, I am not that powerful." She paused as the Ethereal made a noise of disagreement "Lady?"

"You _were not_ that powerful." The Lady corrected her gently. "Here and now? You match _my_ power. Hence why I was so careful to shade your vision, not alter anything." Alley felt terror rise again and the Lady reassured her via pure psionic energy again. "I do not know if this will last, but you know that once a door to the mind has been opened..." She stopped speaking as Alley nodded.

"...it is nearly impossible to shut again." Alley quoted from her learning. "So, I will see things that are not there. Geez. I wanted to stay sane, not go mad."

"Alley." The Lady chided her mildly. Then she sighed deeply. "It is not your fault. No one thought to teach you this stuff. What did you see?" She asked.

"Can't you see it in my mind?" Alley inquired, curious.

"Alley." The Lady was serious now. "If I attempt to fully access your mind without your permission, you will instinctively protect yourself and you might very well be able to destroy me right now." Alley stared at her in horror and the Lady sighed. "With great power must come great responsibility. Even the Elders knew that."

"You did _not_ just quote 'Spider-man' at me." Alley said weakly.

"No, I did not." The Lady said primly enough that Alley had to smiled despite everything. "Or, not _intentionally_ anyway. So _many_ human things." That was a complaint and Alley had to smile again. She relaxed, which was probably the Lady's intention. "I cannot teach you everything in a few minutes, but I can teach you some. Enough? Maybe. We shall see. I have a fix on your position and help _is_ coming."

"I..." Alley gave herself a shake. "I want to trust, Lady." Alley begged. "I want to know I am doing the right thing."

"Me to." The Ethereal admitted and Alley slumped a bit. "For what it is worth, I didn't want to say no to you. You were all so fragile just after waking. I wanted to help and I couldn't. She made me promise not to push you. To let you go on your own."

"That is why you refused our service." Alley said suddenly. "When you spoke to us after we woke. We would have, even knowing Oshina was still alive, we would have sworn to you. If we had, he wouldn't have talked to... us..." She trailed off as terrible realization dawned.

"Yes." The Lady said simply. "And Oshina's clan would have died. The ones he was and is protecting would have likely died as well. Then the other Mutons would have probably rampaged and who knows how many would have died, bringing them down. Saying 'no' to you scared, hurting people was probably the hardest thing I have ever had to do. _One_ of the hardest things anyway. But you _had_ to do it on your own. You _had_ to figure it out on your own. Your Mother knew that Oshina wouldn't trust _me_. _At all._ "

"Because you are the same species as the ones who enslaved him." Alley grimaced as the pieces started falling into place. Such twisty, turny things made her brain hurt, but she did see Mother's armored hands in all this.

"Exactly." The Lady seemed to swell a little. "I can't stay long, but what time I have here, I will give you. Are you ready to learn?"

"Yes, Lady." Alley sat up as straight as she could in the water. "I am ready to learn."

"Okay." The Ethereal started to speak.

"At the smallest possible level of everything in known existence, no matter how solid it may _look_ , it is all composed of energy..."

* * *

Ten sort of real minutes later

Alley jerked back to herself as the water splashed around her. She stared at it and saw the molecules flying around in their intricate dance. This time, it didn't frighten her. It fascinated her.

"Alley?" Ray asked carefully. "Um, Mother said you would change."

"I did." Alley mused as she watched a water molecule fall off her scale molecules. It was beautiful.

"You did." Ray made a soft, worried noise. "And… um… If I may _ask_ …?" He gave a squeak as the water underneath him shifted a little and Alley smirked. "Holy! What the-?" He demanded as he looked down and saw nothing. He glared at her but he seemed awed as well. " _You_ did that!"

"I did." The Viper nodded. "I shifted some water molecules underneath you to make a feeling as if something was rubbing your tail." Alley explained. "You _did_ shoot me." She reminded him sourly with a glare of her own.

"I did." Ray sighed, a remarkably human sound. "I apologize, Alley. Easer left a message that told me to do so at low power. She said it should jump start your change."

"It did." Alley reassured him. "And yes." Ray looked at her and she had no problem identifying the quizzical look even on the inhuman snout. She smiled. "The answer is 'yes'. Mother promised you help, I will honor her vow and help you all. But I need your help as well."

"Thank you." Ray seemed to wilt in relief and Alley reached out with a slow hand to touch his head. It felt different. Not bad, just different. She sensed wrongness in him and she reached out with her mind to touch the bad spot in his head. It repelled her, that wrongness but she focused her mind and it vanished, leaving clean wholeness in its place. Ray gasped as she removed her hand. "What did you do? The pain..." He said weakly. "The pain is _gone!_ "

"I don't know exactly what I did, Ray." Alley admitted. "This is all new to me and I have a _lot_ of learning ahead of me. I don't know if the tumor will grown back." She warned. Ray ignored that.

"The calves! You can help the calves!" Ray all but babbled. "The AI will take them for surgery again soon! Alley! _Please!_ "

"Take me to them. I will do what I can." Alley reassured the distraught aquatic.

"Um..." Ray stared at her as she held out hand to him. "Its a long swim and the AI took your equipment."

Alley held up a hand and submerged her head. She opened her eyes and smiled as Ray ducked his own head under the water to look at her. She opened her mouth and she spoke normally.

"It is not a problem, Ray." The words did not come in her usual way. Indeed, she wasn't sure _how_ she was communicating. It wasn't psionic. It wasn't aloud. It wasn't sub-dermal. It was something else. But he heard her. And when he opened his mouth, it too wasn't any speech she knew, but she understood him fine. Somehow.

"That is _very cool_." Ray all but gushed. "You can breathe _water_ now? _And_ talk like me? Wow."

"Not so much." Alley shook her head slowly, aware of pressure all around her now. Water was very different to move in. "Technically, I am extracting oxygen from everything around me, not just the water. I am trying hard not to do it to you." She smiled as he stared at her.

"Remind me not to make you mad at me." Ray extended a fluke to her and she took hold of it.

"Don't make me mad at you." Alley quipped as they started off. Ray surprised laughter followed them through tunnels that looked artificial, if filled with water. She had no way of remembering the tunnels since some were dark enough that she couldn't see anything and others were brightly lit. She didn't bother. She focused on her feeling and sudden pain hit her. Not hers or Ray's. They surfaced in another grotto. This one was packed with beings like Ray but several of them were small. The small ones were crying in both fear and pain. Alley's heart went out to them.

"Ray? What?" A female voice nearby sounded startled but Ray ignored that to push Alley towards the closest small form who shied away from her. Alley stayed where she was.

"No, Ray." Alley said sternly. "Not without the parents' permission."

"But you can-" Ray froze in place as Alley spun to glare at him. "Um."

"Not. Without. The. Parents'. Permission." Alley snarled each word but instead of fear, the closest adults relaxed. "Just because I _can_ do something doesn't give me the _right_ to. I _want_ to. Oh, god I want to. But I have no _right_ to simply _do_ things. Especially not to _young_. _I_ am _not_ the Elders to simply do without asking."

"You can help? Help our little ones?" A female voice begged. A form like Ray's but slightly smaller shoved through the crowd to scrutinize Alley who nodded.

"She took my pain away!" Ray gushed. "She _can!_ "

Suddenly, _everyone_ was speaking. A cacophony of sound assaulted Alley and she focused on shielding her ears, which were still a bit delicate. She couldn't hear anything over the din but then a shrill noise sounded and a sudden silence fell.

"We are _hurting_ her!" The new female snapped. " _Shut up!_ "

"No need to be rude." Alley reassured the other. "I have protections."

"Thank Thor." The other said weakly. "We have been so scared that this time, the AI will kill them instead of removing the tumors."

"I won't let that happen." Alley said firmly. "I am Alley. You are?" She asked politely.

"Hello Alley. My name is Marki." The female replied and went still as Alley recoiled. "What?" Ray pushed up behind Alley, offering support that Alley took gratefully. "Ray?" She pleaded.

"I don't know." Ray sounded as shocked as Marki was. "Alley, what is wrong?"

"My partner's name was Mark." Alley said though a suddenly tight throat.

" _Was?_ " The horrified word came from several throats. Alley managed a nod.

"Oh, Alley." Marki swept close and brushed up against Alley, offering support of her own. "I am sorry. We know the pain and grief, but it is never easy. Odin tests us sorely in this horrible place. Did he die well?"

"He fell saving innocents from the plot of an evil human. He killed several, including the one who mortally wounded him." Alley managed to calm herself a bit. A soft murmur of approval sounded from all around her. "I was not there. I had been captured. I couldn't help him!"

"To fall fighting worthy foes is good. To do so saving innocents is a worthy end indeed." An older voice sounded and Alley saw a large from in the back. It nodded to her. "The Valkyrie will have taken him up. Grief is understandable, child, but you should rejoice as well. Odin knows his own and will reward those who he finds worthy."

"Valkyrie? Odin?" Alley stared at the old one and then she shook her own head. "I have many questions, but they can wait. Your people need aid and I can provide it. My Mother swore aid, and I will abide by her oath. I cannot do all at once. Who first?"

"Honor _and_ sense, a rare combination." The elder replied. "Marki, your calf did not return to us. You choose." Alley stared at the female in horror and Marki seemed to slump in the water as she nodded. Nothing more needed to be said.

"Yes, Elder Sven." Marki said softly. "Helga, bring Agneta forward." Alley looked at her and Marki nodded again. "Agneta is the youngest and weakest. She cannot even nurse now. If you cannot help… She will likely not return when the machines take her out of the water this time."

A female form was urging a tiny, listless thing toward Alley and Alley's heart seemed to freeze as she saw the small one was barely able to swim. Alley looked at what had to be the mother.

"Please?" A sorrowful voice sounded from that one. "Freya forgive me, but I cannot help her."

"I can." Alley said firmly as she reached out to the tiny form who tried to nuzzle her hand. Seeking milk? Alley could feel the small one's hunger. Her despair. "No, no, little one." Alley said as she touched the struggling infant's head. "That is not your meal. Let's see what is wrong."

She focused her mind and the infant jerked in the water as the tumor that had been blocking her intestines vanished. She hadn't been able to _eat_ because she hadn't been able to _digest_. Alley worked a bit harder than she needed to to repair the damage. Then she gently urged the small aquatic to her mother and Helga gave a cry of mixed surprise and relief as Agneta started to nurse. _Everyone_ was staring at the Viper in awe as Alley laid a hand on Helga's head and removed _her_ tumors as well. Helga was crying in relief as Alley patted her head.

"Form a _line!_ " Marki said sternly as the others started to crowd in. " _Do not_ harm the healer or answer to _me!_ "

" _Us!_ " The Elder Sven, Ray _and_ Helga all snapped in unison.

Alley focused herself. This would be a challenge.

But a worthy one.

* * *

An hour later

Alley was almost done. She had few reserves left but she had only _one_ left to heal. She tried to swim forward, but her body wouldn't obey her.

"Alley?" Ray hadn't left her side the whole time even as other retreated to give her space. "You are exhausted."

"Ya _think?_ " More than one of the others chuckled at her sour tone, but no one pressed. Everyone was stunned by her ability, her drive to do what was needed.

"Healer." Sven hadn't moved from where he sat in the water. Could he? "Do not waste your power on me."

"With all due respect, Elder." Alley tried to move forward again and couldn't. "You do not command me." She focused herself grimly and the water bent to her aid, easing her forward despite her weakness.

"Alley!" Ray protested and moved in front of her. A sharp sound from the larger aquatic had him scurrying back. Then he moved to try and block her path again.

"Have you learned _nothing_ about getting in the way of determined females, boy?" The apparent eldest asked dryly enough that Alley had to chuckle. She was hardly the only one to laugh at Ray's discomfit. "Move or she _will_ run you over."

"She will _kill_ herself." Ray begged.

"If the Norns have decreed her time is done, then it is done, boy." Sven said softly as Alley reached him and took a moment to center herself. "You cannot change your wyrd. You know this."

"I know not your faith." Alley could not muster the energy speak any louder as she laid a hand on Sven's massive flank. "But I refuse to stop fighting."

"You would make a heck of a shield-maiden, Healer Alley. A worthy foe or ally indeed." Sven shuddered a little as Alley's power sank into him. Then she stiffened and the ancient spoke again. "I know. I saw scans the last time I was out of the water. I know where it is and what it is."

"Elder Sven, I can remove it." Alley said weakly. "But if I _do_..." She trailed off as he made a soft noise of agreement.

"I die." Sven said to gasps from all around. "I know. I think that is what happens to those who do not return. They perish when the machines remove the tumors from vital places. Can you heal the surrounding tissue first?"

"I can try." Alley wasn't sure about this. If she were fresh, it wouldn't be a problem. But as exhausted as she was after healing _twenty-seven_ beings including Ray? She could cause serious harm or worse. "I will do my best." She promised.

"That is all the gods ask any of us." Sven replied. "To do our best."

"Alley..." Ray begged.

" _Shut up_ , Ray." Alley snapped and more than one of the other laughed as Ray all but pouted. "His name is different from yours." She mused as she focused her power on the huge tumor that had grown all the way _through_ the wall of the massive aquatic's heart.

"Stands to reason." Sven chuckled a bit. " _He_ is different. We didn't understand when your Mother came. She freed us, used Easer's protocols to give us all free will. We chose our ways. I am honored that most of them chose to follow me even when I led their parents to this horror so long ago." Alley looked at him even as her power flowed around his heart, easing it, healing the tissues slowly while at the same time, destroying the malignant thing that had been killing him. "When the Elders came, I was curious. I approached the odd things that appeared on the sea floor. They took me and used me to take my pod. They did things to all of us. Made us smarter, faster, all that. They made us _thralls_. I cost my pod their freedom and I am sure I will pay for it in the next life. What is worse? What they did was flawed, we sicken worse with each generation. Of all of them, only I remain. Only I remember and regret."

"Yeah." Alley sighed as she finished. His heart beat strongly again. He would live and if she was any judge? Thrive. "I know those feelings."

She finally relaxed and as she had expected, darkness reared up and took her, but…

It was singing.


	27. Chapter 27

**Held rage**

Alley was asleep. Sort of.

She knew she was asleep, because she could feel every molecule of her body operating at a very low ebb. But she could hear singing. She heard Ray's voice, Marki's voice, Helga's voice, even Sven's. Others. All singing softly. And _what_ they were singing!

'Ah-ah, ah!  
Ah-ah, ah!

We come from the land of the ice and snow  
From the midnight sun, where the hot springs flow  
The hammer of the gods  
W'ell drive our ships to new lands  
To fight the horde, and sing and cry  
Valhalla, I am coming!'

 _Led Zeppelin?_ What were the odds?

Someone was washing her face gently with something rough. She was so tired that she couldn't even open her eyes. Then the sensation faded and she felt something odd. She sensed an odd molecule in the water around her. It wasn't anything she had sensed in the water before. This molecule was complex, far more complex than anything commonly found in nature, so it had to be artificial. It wasn't anything she knew, but the structure was familiar. It was…

It was a _sedative!_

Alley panicked for a moment and then focused on the molecules around and in her. She had to be very careful. A misstep here could render the sedative toxic or worse, alert whoever was trying to knock her out that she wasn't. That might very well be lethal. If they could disperse sedative so easily, nothing would stop them from dispersing fast acting toxins that worked in very low doses. A lot of this molecular control was instinctive, but she didn't kid herself that she could stop such things as untrained as she was. She was so tired still. This wasn't Ray's or his pod's doing. She felt them around her, sleeping. Whoever was doing this had knocked them all out as well. The AI? This didn't feel like a machine's work to Alley. A machine wouldn't care if mothers grieved.

She did not react as she felt herself lifted out of the water. That wasn't hands or anything mechanical. Since this was Elder tech, it was probably some kind of force field tailored to moving the aquatics in and out of the water. If so, it was likely well beyond her ability to fight even when not exhausted. But mainly? She was curious as to what was going on.

"Why can't we just kill it?" A sour male voice sounded close at hand as Alley felt herself laid on something cold and hard. She didn't know that voice. Did she? No. She didn't. But it _was_ familiar.

"You heard the doc." A tired female voice answered the male. "Something odd happened. We need to figure it out before you go all stupid again."

Alley didn't move as straps were laid over her and tightened painfully. She couldn't move at all. She could feel the air molecules around her moving. They told her that there were two more people on the room, breathing tightly. Probably guards and almost certainly armed. She didn't react as sharp things poked both of her wrists and cold fluid seeped into both arms. She focused on that and paused as she recognized the substances she had been given. Glucose? Whoever these people were, they were giving her _glucose_ intravenously? That didn't make any sense. Glucose was a human sugar. Why was she suddenly feeling better? Less tired? She wasn't human. Such shouldn't work on her. Was there anything _else_ in there? No. She couldn't sense anything else in her system, so… What?

Alley felt movement and she could hear several sets of boots on a metal floor.

"Leave her here." A female voice with a thick accent spoke up and Alley felt rage suddenly blossom as she recognized it from recordings the nest had made of their mission to save the students. Vahlen! And not _just_ Vahlen!

"Doctor, we should just kill it." The male complained.

"Jackson, get out." The female snapped even as Alley jerked and started fighting the straps that held her down. Jackson? The man who had led the team that had killed Mark! Why wasn't he _dead?_ Several voices gasped, but Vahlen continued. "Everyone else out! _Now!_ "

'Ma'am..." The tired female voice spoke up again.

"Get! Out!" The other snarled even as soft hands touched Alley. Again, boots sounded on metal and then a door hissed shut and a click sounded. Locked? "Damn him." The woman sounded old and tired now. "Damn him to _hell!_ They were not supposed to be _carrying_ any lethal weapons!" A hand touched Alley's head. "Alley, is it? I am sorry. I never intended your partner's death. You have to believe me."

"Why?" The word flew out of Alley's mouth before she could even think that her mouth wasn't bound and she could spit. But… why would they do that? "You kill aliens! It is what your kind do! Kill me already!"

"No. Killing you now, while technically possible, would cause so many more problems." The other replied heavily. "Bradford was right. I was stupid. Go ahead and spit if you feel you must. I thought I was smarter than your creator and I wasn't."

Alley jerked as a hand touched the back of her head. It gave an experimental scratch and she jerked again, her saliva focusing into the Viper's most dangerous weapon. Some might say the tongue and coil was more deadly, but the poison spit killed quickly. Many had found that out to their cost. The Elders had seen the toxin and jumped at adding the Vipers to their army. With her new skills, Alley could hold it ready for far longer than a normal Viper could.

"Remove your hand." Alley said in a very quiet voice. "Or die."

"You have a right to your anger." Vahlen said quietly. Her hand did leave Alley's head. "I cost you your partner." Alley did not react as the straps that held her down were loosened and then removed. She did not react as the voice withdrew. This had to be a trick. A trap of some kind. Vahlen sighed. "Open your eyes, Alley. Look. See what hubris costs."

Alley did not react for a long moment, but nothing else happened so she cracked her eyes slightly. The room was brightly lit and the walls had several tanks of some kind in each one. They were filled with opaque green fluid. Machinery that looked medical in nature stood ready in places. Her eyes did not miss the human clad in green scrubs near one wall. She inhaled sharply as she saw what was around the human's neck. An Elder slave collar!

"Yes, Alley." Vahlen waved at the metal collar around her neck. "The Elders caught me and they were not kind. Death would have been a mercy and they were not merciful."

"This is a trick!" Alley glanced around, but they seemed to be alone. She felt no disturbances in the air that might herald an invisible presence. "You lie! It is what you do!"

"I _have_ lied." Vahlen looked at the floor. " _This_ is true: I _did_ try to take the last sample of bio-agent from your Mother and that _did_ cause her death." She slowly shook her head. "The transport that they had used returned to my base filled with Advent troops. I don't know how they found it. Maybe your Mother set up some kind of revenge? Maybe Jackson was sloppy again? Maybe the Elders were watching the whole time. I don't know. I woke up here, like this." She waved at her neck again.

Again, Alley did not move. She might have been a snake statue.

"Talk to me, Alley." Vahlen said slowly. She wasn't quite begging, but it was close. "Please. Talk to me."

"I have nothing to say to you." Alley snapped. "I won't help you!"

"I can give you your partner back." Vahlen recoiled as Alley spit. The spit hit the floor in front of the human and did nothing but sizzle.

" _You! Lie!_ " Alley snarled.

"Alley, don't make me do this." Vahlen was begging now. "Don't make me take control of you!"

" _Go right ahead!_ " Alley screamed. "You _cannot_ hurt me as badly as you already _have!_ You tore my soul in two, you bitch! Clone Mark?" This was likely a bad idea, but Alley didn't care anymore. " _Die_ , you lying, sanctimonious, stuck up, little..." _This_ time, the spit she started to gather would fill the _room_ with toxins. She _might_ survive such, nothing _else_ would.

Something shot from the ceiling to slam into Alley and she screamed anew. It stopped short as every muscle in her long, thin body locked up. She could nothing but lie on the table as Vahlen stepped close. She couldn't even shut her eyes as Vahlen pulled a silver thing from somewhere and bent over Alley. Another collar.

"I _am_ sorry." Vahlen was actually crying. "I don't have a choice anymore. You will feel much better after a rest. You will use your powers to help the people here."

" _FUCK YOU!_ " Alley managed to scream that in English, then in French, then in Swahili. She was speaking quickly, cursing in many human languages as she fought whatever was paralyzing her but whatever it was adapted to each of her attempts to bypass her nerves at the molecular level. Did it know about her power? How?

The collar closed around her neck with a click and she heard screams from many, many minds including the Lady's as her own… dissolved.

* * *

Some time later

"Alley. Time to wake up." Vahlen's voice pulled Alley out of sleep. The Viper screamed, yelled, ranted in her mind, but her body did not obey her. Her eyes opened and she looked up to see Vahlen standing there with an expectant look on her face. "How do you feel?"

"Doctor Vahlen." Alley quailed as her own voice answered the doctor. That wasn't her doing it! "Physical form is optimal. Emotional form is sub-optimal."

"I didn't want to do that, Alley." Vahlen said heavily. "I needed you and your nest. All of you. Mark's death was _never_ part of the plan." Alley was screaming obscenities in her mind as Vahlen reached out to touch Alley's snout. Her touch was hesitant, but gentle. "You won't believe me, but… I need your help, Alley. You can help me. I wanted your willing help, but if needed? I was ready. I knew it might come to this. Come."

She started off and Alley felt herself follow. Alley was wearing an odd garment. Some kind of green smock thing. Almost like the scrubs that Vahlen wore. As they walked through halls that gleamed with Elder metal, Alley saw other humans clad the same way, each wearing a silver collar. Just like Vahlen. Just like Alley now.

"The Elders re-purposed this place after Easer was killed. They re-purposed everything." Vahlen said quietly. "The original intent of the place was to make communicators, but now? It is a biological research facility. Even with the Elders gone, the AI that runs it keeps us working. So many dead for _nothing_." She shook her head. "I may be pragmatic, but this place is _evil_."

 _Yeah, right._ Alley snarled in her head, but it echoed into emptiness.

Vahlen led her to a door that was unmarked. There the humans stopped, but waved Alley forward.

"Inside that door, you will find horror beyond belief, Alley." Doctor Vahlen said quietly. " _This_ is why I needed you. Your nest. The AI won't let any but the Elder's servants into that part of the facility and I know several of the beings who went in there were alive when they did. Now? I don't know. I know you will do what you feel is right, but… If you see a little boy who answers to the name of 'Herman'? Please be gentle?" She begged. "I know you hate me and I deserve it, but _he_ is only _two_. _He_ didn't ask for this any more than _you_ did!"

Alley stared at her, shocked as the human stepped back. The door in front of Alley opened and the short corridor was familiar. An air lock system. Her body slid forward and then the door hissed shut behind her. It clicked and then she screamed as agony tore through her neck.

She didn't quite lose consciousness, but only because she managed to shut off her nerve endings in time. She did fall to lie in a heap on the floor as the collar hissed and fell off. She stared at it. Such things did _not_ come off! She couldn't move very well, but she managed to slide away from the collar towards the far door as the evil silver thing sparked and smoked. Then the door hissed open!

"Oh, my god." A somewhat familiar female voice sounded and small hands were stroking Alley's flanks as she heaved in great gulps of air. "Ma'am? Are you okay? Easy, easy."

The voice wasn't anyone Alley knew. So why was it so familiar? She looked up and _Jane Kelly_ was staring at her, wide eyed. But this was _not_ the X-Com warrior. _This_ girl wore a Advent style hospital gown that didn't cover much and couldn't have been more than three Earth years old! Her _eyes_ were old though. As if she had seen too much. Alley knew that feeling and that look. She saw it in mirrors all the time.

"J… J… Jane?" Alley asked, confusion coloring her voice.

"How do you know my name?" The girl asked. She wasn't angry. She seemed curious. "I don't know you."

"I know someone who looks just like you." Alley said weakly as she tried her fingers and they moved. Her tail wouldn't though. It was still numb. "Her name is Jane."

"You know my donor." The little Jane said slowly. "I see."

"'Donor'?" Alley asked, finally managing to move her tail. "You are a clone."

"Yes." The young version of Jane Kelly was far too calm about that. Alley reached out with a slow hand to touch the girl and what she sensed in her had the Viper hissing. The girl was drugged. Not only that? She had tumors in a number of places that _had_ to be implanted. They felt artificial and there were _far_ too many for Alley to cure. If she tried, the girl would die quickly. Alley stiffened as Jane recoiled. "Please don't be mad!" The girl pleaded. "Whatever I did wrong, I can fix."

"I am sorry, Jane. I didn't mean to scare you." Alley reassured the girl. "You didn't do anything wrong, Jane." Alley said as she slowly coiled herself up, more to focus her mind that anything else. The rage that sang through her was going to come out soon, though. "Come here." She beckoned and the girl all but swarmed into her arms. Alley held her, crooning as Jane snuggled close. "You know you are sick, Jane."

"Yeah." Jane hugged Alley gently. "Every one of us is."

"How many of you are here? Do you know numbers?" Alley asked, her tongue whisking out to caress the girl's cheek, making her giggle in a way that the hard bitten X-Com warrior likely never would have. Maybe. Then again, the older Jane Kelly _was_ full of surprises. More than even _she_ knew apparently.

"I am not so good with numbers." Little Jane said sadly. "I am sick in the head and it makes me dizzy."

"Yeah." Alley sighed as she hefted Jane. "Can you keep a secret?" The Viper asked in a conspiratorial voice. Jane nodded quickly, eyes bright. "They make _me_ dizzy sometimes too." She smiled at Jane as the girl giggled again. She tickled Jane a little, but paused as Jane winced. "Jane? Did I hurt you?"

"The machines hurt me." Jane said sadly, raising her gown to show Alley a barely healed surgical scar on her side. She had many more that were better healed. "It doesn't help to yell at them. They don't listen."

"I do." Alley promised as she pulled the girl's gown back down. "I won't hurt you, Jane. Come on, cover yourself up. We don't want to shock anyone, now do we?" She flicked the girl's cheek again and Jane smiled a little more. "I am here to help. I won't hurt any of you."

"Promise?" Jane begged as her eyes brimmed with tears. "It is my turn, but I don't want to go in the seat machine again. I _don't!_ It hurts and it is icky and makes me feel weird."

" _Seat_ machine?" Alley asked. "Wait. Not the same one that hurt your side?" She patted Jane's side gently where the scar was.

"No." Little Jane winced hard enough that Ally hugged her gently. "It is marked 'Automated Repro- Repro- Something." She flushed but then went still as Alley did.

"Automated _reproduction?_ " Alley asked, horror rising. Jane nodded.

"That is it." Jane said weakly. "I don't know what that means. It hurts. Please don't make me go in there again!" She begged.

"You won't." Alley touched Jane's head carefully. She used a combination of psionics and molecular control to ease the girl into slumber. It felt right to soothe the girl. "What the hell have the Elders _done?_ She is just a _kid!_ "

She carried Jane into a large room filled with sleeping forms. A few of them stared at the Viper, incurious. One little boy rose and ran to her.

"Jane?" He begged. His face was familiar. Vahlen was obviously his mother.

"Jane is fine." Alley said quietly. "Are you Herman?" The boy nodded quickly and Alley smiled. "Your mom sent me." She stilled as the boy's face contorted with rage.

"My mom _caused_ this!" Herman snapped and then slowly reached out to touch Jane's arm. "She messed _everything_ up, trying to change stuff." Then he perked up. "Are you one of the nest?"

"Yes, I am." Alley said with a smile. "And I am here to help." Herman smiled back, looking far older than his years. Then again, if she was not mistaken, _everyone_ here had been subjected to the educators. Educators that hadn't worked right for Easer so she had discarded them when they had caused harm to her charges. But the Elders discarded _nothing_. The tumors were suddenly making sense. _Horrible_ sense. No _wonder_ Mother had been so firm in trying to get Alley to come if whatever was running this place had been using the educators on unwilling beings and forcing them to reproduce. "Where does Jane sleep?"

"Here." Herman indicted a patch of floor with a dirty blanket. "What are you going to do?" He asked as Alley laid the slumbering girl down and covered her with the blanket.

"Stay here." Alley commanded. More than one of the others looked at her and all were kids. None of them over three years old. One looked heartrendingly like Mark had at a young age but his face was slack from drugs or sleep. Or _worse_. She wanted to go to him, to hold him. She couldn't. Not yet.

"What are you gong to do?" Herman repeated as he sat beside Jane.

"At a guess?" Alley asked as she started for a door marked 'Control Room'. She fought hard to stay calm where the kids could hear her. Soon. Soon, she would let the feelings that were rising inside her out. But not _here_.

"I am going to lose my temper."


	28. Chapter 28

**Rescuing**

The door opened at her touch and Alley was ready to tear things apart with her hands, her tail or her tongue as she slithered through the door marked 'Control Room'. Just glancing backwards made her blood boil and she took a long moment to calm herself before she looked around. There was no one present of course. The kids/patients/clones/whatever-the-hell-they-were apparently couldn't get into this room. Matter of fact… How did she?

The door was sealed now and she didn't see a lock or anything. It had opened at her touch, but she hadn't done anything but put her fingers on it. So what?

She glanced around and the room was bare except for one small, odd looking piece of furniture. It looked like an old human ice cream cone stood on its top with the point upright. She stared at it and then at the walls, most of which had dark screens on them. She shook her head and spoke.

"Yeah, right. I am supposed to coil around that. I get it. _Screw you_." Alley coiled herself up on the floor, head held upright and waited. She didn't wait long. Her eyes went huge as a hologram appeared nearby. It was stunningly lifelike. She was expecting an Elder. Mother. Easer. _Anyone but…._

"Hello Alley." Mark said softly as he smiled at her expression. "Really, Alley. You look like you have seen a ghost." His smile faltered as she hissed in anger.

"Making me _angrier_ is _not_ a good idea." Alley said with a grunt. "I am already going to break things. But _this?_ Now I am going to _enjoy_ it."

"Yeah, I know." Mark's hologram said quietly. "You didn't see me fall. You feel guilty for that." He held up a hand as she snarled. "Alley, I am not reading your mind. I _know_ you. We are two halves of one broken whole."

That hologram did sound like him. It _looked_ like him. But it couldn't _be_ him! She had seen the body. She had demanded that and no one had been willing to say no.

"Code!" Alley demanded and stiffened as Mark nodded. They had set up all kinds of twisty contingencies. Mother's paranoia had run deep in her kids.

"May the Schwartz be with you." Mark said with a grin. Alley felt her own mouth start to stretch and then shook her head violently. Mark's smile faded and he spoke again. "I know. If they read your mind and your memories, which they _did_ , then _nothing_ you know can be trusted. Not even your memories of me and our precautions. Oh Alley, I am sorry." The holo shook his head. "I didn't mean to get shot. I didn't mean to leave you alone."

"How do you know about that?" Alley was one step away from a berserker rage. "I wasn't awake when you died." One part of her knew this was insane, talking to her slain partner. The rest of her was just so damn angry that she didn't care.

"Yeah." Mark sighed deeply and then his holo sat down on the floor, matching her height. "I don't know the tech. If Alina or Adika were here, they could probably figure it out. Me? No. All I am is good at breaking things."

"That is not true!" Alley said sharply. Either this was the best damn lie she had ever heard of in her life, or… Wait. Maybe they were reading her mind right now? Mark smiled at her.

"Yes. The AI _is_ reading your mind, Alley." Mark warned her. "It is confused by you. Good girl." Her heart warmed under his praise as always. "This is a facsimile of me created by the AI to facilitate communication. I warned it that all this would do was piss you off." Alley had to grin as Mark shook his head. "Try explaining anger to an AI sometime." He groused. "It makes beating your head bloody against a stone wall pale by comparison."

"You are a copy?" Alley asked.

"One of your implants that the AI took out stored memories, Alley. It downloaded them, parsed them and integrated them into its own systems." The holo of Mark said quietly. "Your memories _and_ mine." Alley felt hope surge, but it was instantly dashed as Mark shook his head. "And before you ask, no. Not all. Only the last week. The implant didn't have nearly enough storage space for two lives worth of memories even as young as we are. Were." He corrected himself.

"A _week?_ " Alley begged, her head falling to the floor in her shock and sadness.

"I remember the camp." Mark made a face. "I remember Arisha and Jesse and the mess afterwards. I remember going to sleep, waking up. I remember the look on Sister Amadri's face when we marched down the ramp." He smiled and Alley matched it. Then his smile fell. "I remember the mission and what happened in it. I don't know how. Maybe _your_ implants synched with _mine_ somehow even after I was dead?" He shrugged. "Alina or Adika would likely know but they are not here. We _are_ and we have to deal with this. I can explain, but no more. You have to deal with the AI."

"What does it want?" Alley asked slowly. "What it has done… Mark! This is _evil!_ " She shook her head as Mark nodded.

"Alley, it is an AI." Mark was gentle now. As always, he knew how to calm her. "A very smart, learning computer program but in the end, a _limited_ computer program. It does not understand good and evil It can't. It is _not_ a living being, although it can fake it some. It is doing as it is designed. It is trying to fulfill its program."

"And what is its program?" Alley demanded. "Mark, it has cloned people! _Hurt_ people!"

"I know." Mark's face looked a bit green. "Even immaterial, just looking at what it has done nearly made me barf. It was created to aid Easer in her work way back when the Elders first came. It was designed to be able to defend itself and learn. The problem is, it now has three conflicting sets of instructions."

"Three?" Alley inquired.

"Yes, Alley." Mark said quietly. "Three. The Elders demanded servants, slaves to secure Earth's oceans and this facility. Hence the dolphins and the sharks that were modified. The dolphins are intelligent and useful for many tasks, but the shark brains proved too small to enhance. That part failed, but they were useful for basic security." Alley just looked at him and he continued.

"Number two? Easer." He sighed. "I am not condoning what Easer did. I _can't_. She took our lives from us. All of us. None of us will ever know who we were. She wiped all of her records when they sent Mother to kill her. Easer never wanted us to be what the Elders made us. She wanted us to be her children, Alley. Her legacy." Alley inhaled sharply and Mark nodded. "Yes, that is how she broke the Elder's control. Hell truly hath no fury like a mother whose child is threatened. Even our Mother stepped carefully around others mothers when their young were in danger. You know this." Alley nodded. "Easer didn't have a lot of time, but she did what she could, Alley. And she managed to get _Mother_ to side with her." Mark shook his head in amazement. "You know how hard it was to get Mother to change her mind."

Alley had to snort agreement at that. Mother had _defined_ stubborn at times.

"So what is Easer's program?" Alley asked, curious.

"Communication." Mark smiled a little. "She was never an enslaver, Alley. Ever. The Elders wanted her to, but she took broken, hurting beings and made them whole. Yes, in many cases, _she_ broke us at their orders, but that was never her plan. She knew that sooner or later, humans and aliens would need to co-exist. Genocide was possible, especially with Elder tech like that bio-agent..." He shuddered and Alley shared it. "...but it is counter productive. If you kill off everyone, what good does that do you if you need workers or information?"

"Not much." Alley allowed. "So… She really _was_ making us bridges with humanity?"

"That is what she _thought_ she was doing." Mark said darkly. "The Elders had other ideas. She flipped right out when she saw Josh perish in that horrid little quarantine room and then be incinerated." Alley stared at him and he nodded. "She knew her life was measured in minutes at best after discovering that, but she worked fast, Easer did." Alley looked at him and he shook his head. "You are not ready to hear the rest yet, Alley. You are still angry and afraid. You have _cause_. Hell, _I_ am a _construct_ and _I_ am scared _shitless_ of how Colonel Kelly is going to react on seeing that little copy of her."

"She was kind to me. She went through the same thing. They must have taken tissue samples while she was a prisoner and the AI made a copy." Alley said weakly. Mark nodded, face grave.

"More than one." Mark said with a grunt as Alley recoiled in horror. "Yes. That is the latest and the only viable one. For certain definition of viable anyway. She won't live long. And that may be a good thing. Poor girl is hurting and has since she woke. The AI can dull her pain, it cannot stop it."

"Easer would not have done this." Alley said slowly. "I mean, she was pragmatic and driven, I get that. Especially if she broke the programming, but… _who_ would-?" She broke off. "Oh no..." She moaned as Mark nodded yet again. "No."

"Yes." Mark made a soft noise of disgruntlement. "Enter the humans. You met them." His voice was toneless now and Alley nodded. Small wonder he was conflicted. One had _killed_ him!

"Are they clones?" Alley asked.

"The ones _we_ killed were." Mark nodded. "Vahlen has limited control over parts of this place and tried to get us, you, to come free her from this. The ones Mother killed were not. These humans were captured and brought here to serve the facility shortly after we went to sleep. The idea was apparently to use their DNA to enhance the dolphins and their expertise to serve the Elders."

"And whose idea was the _educators_?" Alley demanded. "You _know_ what those do to terrestrial bodies." The nest had never had tumors that Alley knew of but prolonged exposure could have caused such.

" _I_ do, yes." Mark agreed. " _You_ do. The AI _didn't_." Alley stared at him in horror and he nodded. "What is more important? _Vahlen_ didn't."

"Why wouldn't the AI know?" Alley asked, confused. "It would have had the information on all of the tech."

"The information about their use was not in its databanks. Nor were the dangers. Easer wiped _all_ of her records." Mark reminded her. "Medical, historical, everything. Those devices sat in a crate in the far back of a closet until Vahlen found them and hatched a brainstorm to use them on the dolphins to free her and her people. The plan failed and the AI discovered them. It has been experimenting with them ever since. You have seen the results."

"Experimenting." Alley said softly. "That little girl said she was put in a reproduction machine."

"She is too small to actually bear young," Mark assured her. "Even the AI is not that stupid. It has basic human biology information." The holo looked away. "It was actually trying to help her. It was removing tumors from her lower body with that machine."

"Really." Alley put a wealth of derision into that one word.

"Alley, until the AI put two and two together and correlated the educators with the appearance of the tumors, less than a _month_ ago, that poor girl was exposed to the radiation from the devices every day for a _year_." Mark said sharply. "It can't really feel horror or regret, but it _knows_ it has killed her and many others."

"I know." Alley said quietly. "I sensed the tumors in her. They are everywhere. There is nothing I can do. Nothing anyone can do but ease her pain."

"Yeah." Mark sounded subdued. "But that brings us to you." Alley looked at him and he nodded. "Vahlen's plan was to use the dolphins to subvert the AI. To try and get it to answer to her commands. She failed but not entirely. She has limited control over some parts of the facility. She cloned her men and sent them out to try and get us. To get you."

"That little boy, Herman?" Alley asked.

"The humans were enslaved, you saw the collars." Mark made a face and Alley nodded. "The problem with slaves has always been replacing them." Alley stared at him, not comprehending and Mark shook his head "Do I need to spell it out for you, Alley? Even since they arrived, the machines have worked to keep their numbers up. Some die of illness, age, or accident despite all of the medical care here. A few manage suicide. None of the females have been allowed such. They are too important for the future of the people here."

" _Mark!_ " Alley exclaimed. "That is _sick!_ "

"This place was never intended for _good_ after Easer was killed, Alley." Mark said sharply. "Why do you think Mother took us all away quickly, after?"

"She had to hide what she was doing." Alley replied, still angry. Then she paused and slowly shook her head as realization dawned. With it came awe. _She_ _hadn't_ _been_ _talking_ _to_ _Mark!_ "That was more than a week ago. Damn. That was all to calm me down. Nicely done." She admitted. She _was_ calmer now. Still horrified, but calmer. "What do I call you?"

The holo of Mark vanished and an amorphous form composed of green energy appeared in its place.

'This unit's designation is Facility 198.' The AI replied. 'This unit senses your disapproval with the dishonesty. This unit apologizes.'

"Why?" Alley demanded. "Why _me_?" She glanced at the thing in the middle of the room and it looked like she could coil around it easily and it was ridged, likely to hold her up if she relaxed. She was suddenly crying. "Why did you make me _remember!_ " She demanded, anger flaring again. "I _failed_ him! I _lost_ him! I cannot go on _without_ him!" She curled up tight and cried.

'Voice print recognized. Viper: designate 'Alley'. Authorization granted.' The voice of the AI barely passed Alley's senses, but then, something touched her. It wasn't physical. It wasn't psionic. It wasn't even her molecular control ability. It was something else.

 _Hello Alley._ That voice… Alley knew that voice! But it wasn't possible! She went still as the voice chuckled. _And how much of what has happened to you recently_ **has** _been possible, hmm?_

"Let me guess." Alley snapped. "Another bloody memory fragment! What do you _want_ , Easer? Or is anyone else who is dead going to come to yell at me?"

 _I am not the easement specialist although easing others was one of my skills_. The other said quietly. _You are lost and alone, child. You need help and I am going to give it._

"And if I don't _want_ it?" Alley demanded. "If I tell you to piss off?"

 _Then you will go mad._ The other's voice turned hard. _You will die or worse, you will become a ravening monster, good only for death and destruction. The Elders would be pleased with such. I will not allow my partner's legacy to vanish so ignobly._

"What?" Alley was shocked out of her fear as something physical touched the back of her head. Something cold that hissed. She suddenly couldn't move. _No!_ She begged in her mind, but the other soothed her.

 _Easy, easy._ The other reassured her. _I couldn't save your partner. I_ **can** _save_ **you** _and then_ **you** _can save_ **me** _._

 _I want to be with Mark!_ Alley couldn't even slump. Every muscle was frozen and her ability was as well. _I don't want to be saved!_

 _Yes, you do._ The other was pulling her, or something. Alley was struggling with every fiber of her being as she saw the odd pillar in front of her. But whatever was holding her was raising her now, arranging her to lie on the pillar. Every iota of her being was screaming as her tail was laid into place. Then her arms, then her head with its limp crest all slid into place. She fit on as if it was made for her. Maybe it had been. _You want the pain to end. You want to feel joy again and I can help. It will not be easy, but we don't do easy, do we?_

 _Please don't hurt me._ Alley begged as dark things swept over her, securing her in place.

"I won't." That was aloud as something covered Alley's head and she felt…

She was...

Alley was warm now. She hadn't been warm in so long. Someone was hugging her as she wept. The warmth was suffusing her as she felt comfort easing through her. She looked up into a face she knew. The jellyfish like alien had no face, no visible body language, but somehow Alley knew the other was sad.

"Easer?" Alley asked, scared of the answer.

"No." The other said sadly. "I am not Easer." The voice was female. Her multiple small limbs that draped down from her gas bag body caressed Alley's body and Alley felt comforted. "Easer is dead. I am her partner." Alley stared at the other, shocked and the other made a noise of confirmation. "Yes, the same way you and yours were bonded, she and I were. That is _why_ you bonded. Because she helped you to form the links. The Elders never knew about me. I was her secret weapon." The other chuckled a bit darkly. "Not much a _weapon_ though. Easy, Alley." The other calmed Alley with soft words and caresses.

"What are you doing?" Alley asked as bliss scoured her pain and fear away.

"In most sentients,..." Whatever the other was doing felt heavenly. "...the fight or flight reflex is bonded chemically. In many it bonds deep, to bone and marrow. It is a survival mechanism, but it also very inconvenient at times. How long have you been afraid, Alley?" She asked gently.

"All my life." Alley said weakly. But she gasped in relief as something seemed to go 'snap' inside her and her mind relaxed. Every bit of her did.

"There we go." The alien made noise of contentment. "Nasty little biological locks need to know their mistress. Better?" She asked Alley who sighed in matching contentment. The alien made a sound remarkably like a human snicker. "I take that as a yes."

"Feels good. What did you do?" Alley asked.

"In your body, indeed, in _most_ corporeal bodies, fear is a chemical response to environmental stimulus. Anger comes from it as a survival instinct." The other was caressing her again. "But constant fear hurts you in many ways. Physical, emotional, mental. I was made to help Easer by soothing fear. I soothed the subjects, she eased them into their new roles." Grief sang in the other's voice now. "She knew she was going to die. She told me to hide. I didn't know if I would ever wake from my slumber. I did as soon as you entered the room and I felt your fear. I had to help you."

"You have." Alley said weakly. "So, we _both_ lost our partners."

"I can help, but I am limited in the real world." The other replied. "My physical form is very small."

"The AI..." Alley murmured as she tried to stay focused. "Is it following your commands?"

"Some." The other made a noise of disgust. "The Elders and that silly human made a hell of a mess."

"Then what say we clean it up?" Alley smiled as the other made noise of joy.

" _Together._ "


	29. Chapter 29

**Cycles of Violence  
**

"So what should we do now?"

The voice wasn't anything that anyone else would ever be able to hear without psionics, but Alley just rolled with it. She had been listening to sub-vocal communication all of her life, after all.

The Viper had wanted to take a hammer to the AI, but she had been convinced not to. It had taken quite a bit of persuasion. She was still seriously unhappy with both the situation and the fact that it had used Mark's seeming to talk to her. The small form that now clung to her neck, blending almost perfectly into her scales, was very persuasive. She didn't command, she suggested.

"Well, first of all, what do I call you?" Alley asked, fingering the scale where she knew the other was hidden. It felt like a regular scale. "And will scanners detect you?"

"Only if you wish or I am incapacitated." The other reassured her. "As for a name? I was half of Easer, we shared the same name."

"There is a lot of baggage attached to that name." Alley warned. "We didn't know for most of our lives that she died trying to save us. We were told she had done horrors to us and we blamed her for that. A lie, but a needed one to safeguard our lives. Mother loved her secrets."

"The Muton Shinaroa was a very capable being." The other said diplomatically. She didn't like the fact that the Muton had killed Easer, but she did understand why. "She must have known the truth would come out someday. The facts of what was done to you lot and the truth about what Easer wanted."

"I need to talk to my nest." Alley said slowly. "If I know them, they are on their way to try and rescue me. They won't care who gets in the way."

"You had a sub-dermal com." The other said slowly. "I cannot replicate such, but I can mimic it myself. Um, I hope that would work for you."

"I don't think secrets between us are going to happen." Alley said with a smile as she turned to the screens in the room and sighed as on activated and she saw Jane sleeping with the others. Herman sat beside her, his young face grave. "Those kids. Those poor kids. Can I help them? I want to help them."

"You are powerful, Alley. Just as Easer planned from the very beginning." The other sounded subdued. "But there are limits to your power just as there are to mine and there were to Easer's. I don't think so. The boy and the other natural born humans? Maybe. The clones. No." She gave a tiny sob.  
"It might be more merciful to let them sleep until they pass away."

"That is the same as killing them myself! I can't kill kids!" Alley said weakly. "I can't! We have to try. Something! _Anything!_ " She went still as screen flashed and an alarm started blaring. "What the-?" Something changed and she could see far more than the room she lay coiled up in. She saw nightmarish forms sweeping towards a familiar white thing that was rushing towards the station. She gasped as one wing opened. She knew what was coming. "Oh… _shit_..."

She put every ounce of her power into protecting her ears. Just in time. The blast was easily audible even though who knew how many walls. And whatever protections the control room had were not quite enough to prevent her blacking out momentarily. She came back to herself lying on the floor. She stared at the carnage that now surrounded the machine. Pieces of genetically altered sharks floated every which way. Most of said pieces were very small or mashed or _both_. Nothing moved except the white machine which was now slowly closing in on the sensor position.

"My nest! Get that com up!" Alley begged and she felt a mental acknowledgment. She spun to the other screens and saw humans all on the floor. Some lying as if unconscious, other in obvious distress. That sonic weapon had worked incredibly well _out_ of the water. _Under_ the surface? It was _devastating._

"The AI will respond to voice commands." Alley's partner sounded just as shaken as Alley felt. That weapon was serious. And even if she _did_ find some kind of defense? The _last_ thing she wanted was to fight. Not here. Not now.

Alley moved to the screen and spoke aloud. "Show me the dolphins."

The screen lit up to show Ray, Sven and then others in some kind of formation in the small grotto that they Alley had seen. The calves and females were surrounded by the large bodies of the others and the weapons that had been mounted on each swung too and fro, seeking targets. "Let me speak to them." She commanded and a light blinked green by the screen. "Ray? Elder Sven? Talk to me! Are you all right?"

"Ally? You _survived?_ What _was_ that?" Sven demanded. "That felt like Thor's hammer."

"He was the God of Thunder, right? Close." Alley muttered. "That was a very powerful sonic cannon at near point blank range. It tore all of the guardians apart. Stay where you are. Protect your pod. I don't think these are enemies. I recognize the ship. I think they are my kin. They have probably come to my aid. I will see if I can talk to them."

"Powerful weapon indeed." Sven replied a bit absently. " _Everyone_ has a headache from that."

"It hurt me here in the _middle_ of the facility. I can't imagine how you feel. Are the calves all right?" Alley begged.

"They are fine." Marki spoke up. "Scared and ready to bolt, but fine. Glad you made it."

"Me too." Alley said dryly enough that every dolphin laughed with her. "I will try to keep you informed, but I bet my nest are bit irritated."

"If this is only them _irritated_ , we do _not_ want to see them _angry._ Go." Sven replied with a laugh. " We will deploy as a precaution, but hopefully not a needed one. Try to keep them from doing that again. I like my teeth where they _are!_ " Everyone laughed at that as Alley cut the com.

"What word on that com?" Alley asked.

"I am sorry, Alley." The other said weakly. "I cannot access that frequency."

"Then we do it the hard way." Alley said sternly. "Do I have to stay here?"

"No, but..." The other sounded shocked. "Alley… if they shot at the facility..."

"They shot at the _guardians_." Alley corrected with a frown as she moved towards the door and it clocked open, Herman was standing there, face ashen. "Herman?"

"What was that horrible sound?" Herman begged. Alley didn't hesitate. She scooped him up and held him tight enough to comfort, but not tight enough to hurt as he fought hard not to cry.

"Facility, lead me where they will dock. I need to be there in person." Alley commanded and a line of LEDs appeared on the floor, they flashed in a direction she hadn't been yet. Doors opened as she slithered as fats as she could without jarring the boy. "Herman, it is okay. That was my family." Alley started off, careful not to shift the boy. "I bet they are very angry with your mother putting a slave collar on me."

"She _what?_ " Herman asked, face very pale now. "No. She couldn't! She _had_ to know that would make people mad."

"Desperate people do strange things." Alley said with a sigh as she saw a door marked 'Airlock'. "God, I hope Rachel tries the door before blowing it."

As if her comment had commanded it, the airlock opened and half a dozen forms showed inside, all with weapons in hand. Their armor was odd, different, but she knew their faces through their face plates. Herman buried his face in Alley's shoulder, but Alley felt elation rise. Her nest! _And_ Colonel Kelly! All were staring at her, wide eyed. All of their weapons were ready and if she knew them? Off safe.

"Am I _ever_ glad to see you guys!" Alley said with a nod as she slowly bent down and laid the boy on the deck. "Herman, be very still now." She kept her voice calm and loud enough to be heard. "These soldiers are very nervous and we don't want to worry them. So just, be still, okay? They won't hurt you unless you give them cause." She slowly laid herself out on the floor, arms wide out.

"Alley?" Marina's soft voice was coming closer as Alley put her face to the floor. Alley knew if she moved, she would likely get shot. Probably only stunned, but it would hurt. "What is going on?"

"A shitstorm." Alley replied. "Colonel, I need you to fall back. If you believe _nothing_ else I _ever_ say, _please_ fall back. Secure the vehicle. You do _not_ want to see what is in here. You do _not!_ _I_ did not _._ "

"Alley?" The X-Com soldier asked. "The Lady said she heard you scream. She said it sounded as if you were enslaved. But there is no collar now."

Hands were searching Alley carefully. Not that she had anywhere to hide much on her person. A scanner whirred close at hand and Marina gasped.

"What did she _do_ to you?" Marina demanded as gentle hands traced her neck. "This is a burn! She _did_ collar you!" Marina snapped, rage singing deep in every syllable. Then again, Marina knew that feeling. Knew it well.

"She did. It burned off." Alley did not move as Marina checked the rest of her, even when the medic's hands tickled the underside of her crest. "Yes, I am _still_ ticklish there, please stop that or I will tell Alina on you." Herman actually giggled at her tone and more than one of the others snorted.

"Tell me _what?_ " Alina asked from close by. Alley grimaced. She should have guessed the Vipers wouldn't be left behind. "That my partner is a _pervert?_ We _all_ know that."

" _Please_ tell me Ami's protections worked against the sonic weapon!" Alley begged. "That hurt like hell from this end."

"No damage." Marina muttered as her scanner whirred near each of Alley's ear holes.

"Yes, they worked." Ami spoke up, her pride pricked. "If Aroa or Ana had been wearing my gear, they wouldn't have been hurt." She was doing something, probably something tech related. Not good.

"Alina, Ami, Adika! Don't try to access!" Alley warned. "This place has defenses on _top_ of defenses and an AI that has three _different_ conflicting primary programs." Ami gasped and Alley continued. "Yeah. It is mess. It gets worse." She warned.

"Alley, your readings are all messed up." Marina said softly. "What happened?"

"Something both wonderful and horrible. I am going to do something and I don't want to get shot." Alley said quietly. "Is Arisha here?"

"She was helping run the ship." Marina said quietly. "She and Jesse refused to be left behind this time."

"Stubborn female. Sounds familiar." Alley still had her face plastered to the floor. "May I show you what happened?" She paused and then spoke quickly. "The boy is an innocent. He was exposed to educator energy. Quite a bit of it." Marina gasped and Alley continued. "Please check him gently, Marina."

"On it." Marina said quickly and her scanner whirred again. When she spoke again, it was cheerful to hide her fear. "I see. Boy? What is your name?" She asked gently.

"Herman." The boy said weakly. This his voice turned sly. "Are you going to eat me? I know where I can find some salt." He asked and then giggled again when everyone groaned.

"Herman, be good or I _will_ spank you." Alley commanded.

"Yes, Matron." Herman said with a gulp.

" _Matron?_ " Everyone said the same thing. Alley was just as shocked.

"I am not a matron, Herman." Alley said with a very small shrug, since she knew she was still covered by at least two weapons. "A? I am not human. B? I am not in charge of anything."

"That is what the machine said to call you." Herman said and there was _utter_ silence in the hallway. He gulped again. "Uh… I am sorry?" He tried.

"Not your fault, but I would have preferred to find a better time to explain than this." Alley said sourly. "Yes." She said to everyone. "I took control of the facility. I didn't know you were coming and the guardians were autonomous anyway. _Were._ " She said grimly. "You made a _hell_ of a mess."

"They wouldn't back off." Cable sounded pleased, but then again, he liked things things that made big booms.

"You are lucky you didn't kill anyone or _everyone_ with the over-pressure of such a weapon from such close range." Alley snapped. "What is the _second_ rule of the range?" She demanded.

First rule? Every weapon is loaded. Even when unloaded, they were to be treated as loaded. Second rule? Know your target and what is _behind_ it.

"There wasn't anything behind the facility, Alley and it was made by the Elders. One sonic blast wasn't going to damage that." Cable protested. "It is built into a sea bed."

"There are females and calves of a dolphin pod that the Elders enslaved here, Cable." Alley said grimly and everything stopped again. "They are intelligent. Tell me, pray tell, what would happen if a high powered sonic weapon were to strike an aquatic mammal? Even a mature one?" She snarled when no one spoke. "And that leaves aside the fact that they _live_ in a _natural_ cave _underneath this place_. Sound plus limestone, Cable! Can you spell ' _seaquake_ '?" She demanded angrily. "Did you even _bother_ to scan the area for life signs or were you just happy to play with your new toy?"

"Uh..." Cable swallowed hard. "No excuse, Ma'am."

"Oshina is not here, is he?" Alley demanded. "He _would_ have hit you for that." Everyone murmured agreement. Even Cable muttered softly, incredulous. "Two hundred. Now. Ana, don't let him lose count or he does it again from the start with you on his back in full gear." She commanded.

Vipers were not that heavy, but they were not that light either with all of what the nest took into the field and seeing as how Cable was likely _already_ in human full gear including armor? Ouch.

"What is he…? Uh..." Herman broke off whatever he was going to say as Alley felt a shiver in the floor as Cable hit it and started counting out slow push-ups with Ana doing the same. "Um."

"Discipline is what separates soldiers from a mob, Herman." Alley said flatly. "Cable did something that could have killed us _all_. The _facility_ might have survived. The people _in_ it or _under_ it? Not so much." She sighed and relaxed as best she could as Marina sighed deeply. "Marina?"

"You know. Are there more?" Marina said softly. Alley chanced a nod and no one took offense. "Oh damn."

"Yeah. Most of them worse off than him." Alley said softly. "I am going to sit up and touch him, Marina. I need you to keep your scanner on me when I do."

"Okay." Marina drawled that out to at least four syllables as Alley rose slowly. The Viper coiled herself automatically, trying to ignore the _four_ weapons aimed at her. Colonel Kelly hadn't moved.

"I have seen pictures. That kid looks like Vahlen." Colonel Kelly said slowly. Alley did not react but Herman _did_.

"What did she do to _you?_ " Herman asked in a long suffering tone. Everyone looked at him and he shook his head. "I know who you are and Matron Alley is right. You do not want to see what is within here."

"How old are you, boy" Jane sounded almost punch drunk and Alley could relate.

"I will be two in a month." Herman said quietly. Everyone stiffened and he nodded. "I know what was done to me. I know things I shouldn't. I know I am dying, just like all the others."

"No, you are not." Alley felt a great calm settled over her and anticipation came from her partner as she reached for the boy. She took hold of his hand and focused her power on him. The molecules that made up the tumors inside his body resisted her, but she fought them as she fought any enemy and then, slowly eradicated them. Marina gasped as Herman did. Alley smiled at the boy. "No, you are _not_."

"Um." Herman stared at Alley as she gave his hand a squeeze and then released it. "What did you do?"

"I destroyed the tumors on a molecular level." Alley said quietly as she coiled herself back up. "You will need help. Such things leave damage that I cannot heal easily, if at all."

" _How?_ " Marina and Herman both gasped that. They stared at each other and Alley had to stifle a smirk.

"I don't know." Alley admitted. "Easer planned this all along. This power, she apparently built it into me to be able to manipulate substances at the molecular level." Marina was staring at her, wide eyed and Alley nodded. "I talked a bit with the Lady and I asked her. Yes, I could." She said softly. "But it wouldn't be _him_."

"Alley..." Marina said weakly, but everyone else looked confused.

"I am not the _Elders_ , Marina." Alley said firmly. "I may be able to create life as well as destroy it eventually. But that doesn't give me the right to enslave another. Sure, I could probably make an exact copy of Mark. But it wouldn't _be_ _him_. It would be someone new. Someone who _I took choice from_." She shook her head. "No. I won't. _Ever_. Colonel, I need your word. If I ever, and _I do mean_ _ **ever**_ , act out with this power, you _must_ strike me down."

A pin dropping might have sounded like an artillery shell in the silence that fell in the corridor.

"Don't ask that of me, Alley." Colonel Kelly said softly. She wasn't quite pleading.

"Then _who?_ " Alley asked, nearly in tears. " _Oshina?_ I bet I can recombine genetics now! That is about the same level if finer control. I can make _monsters_ , Colonel! Just like the Elders! I know the basics and I am sure I will learn more than is good for my sanity."

"Well, well, well..." A familiar, hated voice sounded and Alley turned to see a group of humans, all armed with familiar weapons. All of them aimed at the group.

"What have we _here?_ " Jackson asked with a smirk.


	30. Chapter 30

**Coils**

For a long moment after Jackson had spoken, there was utter silence in the hallway. Then Colonel Kelly looked at Alley and slowly shook her head as the Viper eyed the human who had spoken.

"Alley, no." Jane Kelly sounded odd, almost hesitant? Utterly unlike herself. "Don't."

"I am glad _someone_ -" Jackson started, only to cut himself off as Colonel Kelly moved to stand between him and the group. "What are you _doing?_ " He demanded as Jane set herself. She didn't raise her shotgun, but she didn't _lower_ it either.

"I am trying to _save_ a life." Jane said sourly. "Not something I am used to, but hey, I am adaptable." She shook her head again, still slow. "Alley. Please. Wait." Was she _begging?_

"You should move, Jane." Alley barely recognized her own voice. It was strained, as if she was in pain. A gasp of shock came from her passenger but she ignored it as the rage she felt burrowed closer and closer to the surface. When it flared, bad things would happen. "Let him shoot." At that, everything stopped. "It is what he _does_. All he knows. Killing things."

"The same was said about me, Alley." Jane sounded sad now. "And it was true. Before I met Jenni and for a while after I lost her, all I knew was killing. I am learning a better way but it is hard going."

" _You_ don't want to only be what you are. He _does._ " Alley didn't take her eyes off the group of humans who had interrupted her reunion with her nest mates. She _did_ note Cable stopping his push-ups out of the corner of her eye and snarled at him "Who said you could _stop?_ Fifty _more!_ "

"Alley?" Cable muttered, not starting again. "Guys with guns?"

"Guys with guns who are about to _die._ " Alley corrected him grimly. At that, everyone stared at Alley who slowly shook her head. "Marina, hold Herman. He doesn't need to see this."

"I think I do." Herman said in a very small voice as Marina took him into her arms. "There but for the grace of God, go I."

"No, Herman." Alley said flatly. "I won't hurt you. You didn't choose this life of yours. _You_ didn't torture my partner. _You_ didn't command the people who _killed_ my partner." At _that_ , her entire nest flinched. Her gaze was a roaring furnace as she leveled her eyes on Jackson who stared at her. "He _did_."

"Alley, no." Jane Kelly tried again. "You don't understand. I looked up some stuff. I was confused by what I found on and in the bodies of the slain at the school."

"They were clones." Alley snapped. "Vahlen made clones and sent them out to try and trap us. Me." She calmed a little. Just a little. Not enough. She slowly shook her head, not taking her eyes off Jackson. "That is why I was sedated heavier than the others. She must have known about my potential. I assume she wanted to enslave me all along."

"Alley. Just, wait a moment. Let me _explain_." Jane was trying hard to be reasonable even as the humans down the hall stared at one another. Jackson scoffed.

"Why wait?" The man snarled and took aim. "You gonna die now, snake." The Colonel muttered something under her breath that sounded decidedly rude.

"Facility, please disarm the assailant aiming at me and then destroy his weapon." Alley said quietly and Jackson gave a small scream as his rifle was suddenly yanked out of his hands by an unseen force and then compacted into a tiny metal ball. A pop heralded its ammunition detonating, but the ball didn't shift size or shape. Said ball fell to the floor with a clang, rolled to one wall and a hole opened that it vanished into. The hole closed again. She nodded to Jackson and smiled coldly as he stared at her, shaking his hands. That had to have hurt. She didn't care. "You were _saying?_ " Her tone was snide now.

"How did you do that?" Jackson said, face suddenly white as a sheet.

"It is called 'I am in full command this facility'." Alley felt comfort seeking to pierce her rage as her passenger tried to calm her down. It didn't work. "I can turn you and all of your people into small fleshy balls just like that rifle. Tractor-pressor beams are very powerful as you know since you subverted some of the systems to meddle with the aquatics. You may have disabled the collars, but all the codes have been changed." At that, Jackson stilled and more than one of the other humans gasped. Alley looked at the other humans and her heart seemed to freeze as she saw two very pregnant women in the group. They wore patient gowns or dirty jumpsuits and all wore collars like the one that Alley had been subjected to. She ignored her sudden burst of empathy. "Any of you who do not want to die, safety your weapons and lay them on the ground. Now."

"Do what she says!" Jane Kelly snapped when they didn't move. "A _lot_ of people want to talk to you morons. She can and _will_ kill every one of you if you resist!"

"That _thing_ hasn't got the guts to-" Jackson started angrily and then screamed as Alley's tongue flashed out, wrapping around him. Everyone recoiled as she pulled him right to her and instantly coiled around him, her body tightening into a death grip. He screamed again, louder, and the sound was a beautiful melody to Alley's tortured soul. He stared up at her cold, reptilian face, his own face straining with effort as he fruitlessly fought her grip. It wasn't a question of _if_ he would die. It was _when_. He wasn't breaking out of that. Not a chance. She slowly and deliberately started increasing the pressure on her coils. She wanted this to take a while.

"You. Were. Saying?" Alley asked brightly enough that every single member of her nest winced. No one moved to stop her and Cable went back to his push-ups. They might disagree with her methods, but none of them would try to stop her seeking vengeance for her partner. Someone else did.

"Alley." Jane stepped to the Viper, her hand coming off her shotgun to slowly reach out and touch Alley's arm. "No. I know he has made you angry. Odin only knows, he has made _me_ angry." She made a face. "But if you kill him like _this_ , he may wind up in Valhalla. He doesn't _deserve_ such honor, Alley. Let him go. We will put him in prison where he and Vahlen can have a long, long time to think about the horrors they inflicted on so many." Her face split in a malicious grin. "With any luck, he will die in bed there and he will go to the Cold Lands where he can freeze his ass off for eternity."

"You believe as the Vikings did." Alley said, her intellect warring with her rage, indeed, her _need_ to rend this man limb from limb.

"Jenni was Asatru, a follower of Freya, and she converted me to that faith." Jane replied. "I am more drawn to Loki myself." Alley was hardly the only one to goggle at her and the X-Com warrior shrugged. "Hey, he got a bad rap from Marvel comics. He was a trickster, not evil. I like to laugh. Don't do it nearly often enough. Your nest made me laugh without reservation for the first time in _years_ when we met, Alley. Loki would approve." She slowly stroked Alley's arm. "I owe you for that."

"He needs to _die!_ " Alley squeezed tighter and Jackson moaned as his bones started to audibly creak.

"Alley." Jane slowly knelt so that she looked the irate Viper in the eye. "You don't know why he is the way he is."

"Why should I _care?_ " Alley demanded. She glared around, but no one else had moved. All of the other humans had dropped their weapons and stood, unsure. "Facility! Collect and dispose of the weapons on the ground." More than one person gasped as the weapons vanished. Nothing else happened and people relaxed a little.

"Alley." Marina spoke up from where she still held Herman. "Not like this. Stay with us, Alley. Stay with us. It is okay. It is okay." She crooned, half to Herman who was cowering from the Viper's rage and half to Alley.

"I am going to tell you a story, Alley. Then you can make up your own mind." Jane slowly sat on the ground next to Alley. She didn't try to release the bound human who glared at her. She ignored him. "It is about a man named Jackson. He was a member of the US Army, a highly specialized commando in a top secret unit. When the Elders came, he was recruited by an even more top secret group called X-Com to try and fight them. It wasn't his fault they failed. It wasn't his fault that all of his family were caught in the middle of the firestorm. He fled the destruction of X-Com's base, never knowing the fate of his wife Samantha, his daughter Kim..." The hard and tough warrior woman took a deep breath before continuing. "...or his _son_ , _Mark_."

At that, every single thing in the area stopped. Everyone, human and alien alike, was staring at the X-Com woman in shock. Even Jackson had stopped his struggling. Cable paused in his push-ups, but then continued, Ana counting softly with him.

"What?" Alley felt faint and her passenger shared her shock. Then the other took action quickly. Alley felt ease seep through her and her murderous rage vanished as if it had never been. Everyone relaxed a bit when she did. She did _not_ release Jackson.

"Jackson didn't know what became of any of them." Jane continued. "He guessed. He saw too much, endured too much to have any illusions about the fate of most of the human race. We will likely never know what happened to them. Why Mark was the only survivor. There are no records that anyone can find. So, when his team extracted Mark and the others from the hospital, he saw what he thought was an alien with his kid's face. He reacted poorly."

"Easer wiped all of her records when the Elders sent Mother to kill her." Alley said slowly, her head turning to scrutinize the man she held in her grip. "That doesn't change anything, Colonel." Alley was still speaking slowly, trying to gather her thoughts. Trying to remain calm. It was hard even with her passenger's help. "If anything, that makes it _worse_. This man led the team int he latest attack. He is responsible. If he _is_ Mark's father, then he is _doubly_ responsible. He hurt Mark before and then the clones of his men _killed_ Mark." Pain sang in her tone and Jane rubbed her arm again.

"I am not arguing that, Alley." Jane kept her voice soft and gentle. "But I have more information and none of it good. I um, spoke to Vahlen while we were on approach." All of the nest stared at her and she shook her head. "What? You think you are the _only_ ones with sub-vocal coms?" She asked with a grin. More than one of the others smiled at her tone. Alley did not. Jane shook her head. "She didn't say much, but she _did_ tell me that Jackson's clones were not _supposed_ to be carrying lethal weaponry. I checked. The sniper rifle was a stun weapon and the blaster launcher held gas. Knockout warheads. They were to _capture_ you, not _kill_. Mark's death was a tragedy for many reasons, but the main one is this: His _dad_ disobeyed orders and it cost Mark his _life_." Jane shook her head. "Alley, as much as you hate him, as messily and horribly as you want to kill him, _nothing_ you can _possibly_ do to him can match the fact that he _killed_ his own _son_. I do wonder if he learned the truth. If he has realized what he did. If so, he may be praying for you to squeeze just a little bit tighter. To end his tortured existence."

Alley looked at Jackson whose face was a study in shock, fear, rage, and so many other emotions. "I... What do I do?" She begged into the stillness.

"Oh, Alley." Jane sighed and retracted her hand. "I cannot choose for you. After all of the messes _I_ have made, I have no right to deny anyone any choice whatsoever as long as innocents are not threatened. That man is _not_ an innocent." She rose to her feet and moved to stand beside Alley's coils.

"You are not going to save him?" One of the other humans asked, stunned.

"Why _should_ I?" Jane Kelly demanded. "Mark wasn't a nice man, but he was trying to be a good one. He went through horror the likes of which _none_ of you can _imagine_." The X-Com warrior snapped. "All of you know slavery, but you _remember who you are_. He _didn't_. _You_ were not remade to be unknowing carriers for weapons of mass destruction, so don't even _try_ to to argue that. I _liked_ Mark and I _burn_ to strike down his killers." Her glare swept the area and every human recoiled from whatever they saw in it. "You may not have pulled the trigger, but you are _all_ responsible. _You_ gave the clones lethal weapons hoping some of them would get shots at the nest." No one would meet her eyes. "You wanted revenge on _people who had done nothing to you!_ " That was a soft scream and Alley jerked.

"Colonel. I will honor Mark's memory. The good man he was." Alley took a deep breath and then released the man in her coils. He fell to the floor, gasping. " _Your_ prisoner. I refuse to sully Mark's memory with the blood of the human who sired him. This is _not_ his father. _Oshina_ raised Mark and raised him _well_."

"That he did." Jane Kelly raised her shotgun as Jackson tried to crawl away. The man froze, staring at the weapon's bore. "You move, you die. I didn't want _her_ to kill you because unlike you, _she_ loved Mark. Killing you, knowing that you are related, _would_ hurt her. _I_ will kill you without a _moment's_ qualm. She may hate me for it, she may not. If I can spare her a minuscule amount of pain, I will no matter the cost to myself. She has suffered _enough_. I don't know if _you_ care about anything or anyone. _She_ cared deeper than you can imagine about your son and when your clones killed him, you hurt her worse than any weapon ever made ever could. Someone _please_ secure this filth before I give in to my real nature." She begged.

"On it, Colonel." Jack said quietly as he stepped into view, careful to stay out of the line of fire as he slapped cuffs onto Jackson. Then he slapped a patch of duct tape over the man's mouth. Wise. If he angered anyone again, he would likely die.

"So _nice_ to work with professionals." Jane Kelly said with such glee that more than one of the nest chuckled.

"This feels wrong." Alley admitted when Jack was done binding the man's ankles. "I want him dead." She said weakly. "Is that so wrong of me?"

"No, its not, Alley. It is totally understandable in such a situation." Colonel Kelly moved to stand by her as Jack started searching the man who was still staring at the Colonel. eyes huge. The woman slumped a bit. "I am a mess too. I know what is in that room. Vahlen told me." Alley stared at Jane and the X-Com woman nodded. The human's face fell. "I am scared, Alley." She admitted. "I am terrified of seeing her, knowing… Knowing that I cannot help her. You can't either." Not a question.

"The tumors are scattered throughout her brain. If I remove them, at best, she won't be able to function and at worst? She will die quickly." Alley bowed her head. "I am sorry." She held out a hand to Jane who took it.

"So am I." Jane gave Alley's hand a squeeze. "What do we do now? You control this place?"

"Yeah." Alley looked at her nest. "I think I can make it something better. It is going to take a while to fix it up after all of the messes and I will need help." The nest all nodded. Nothing else needed to be said. They were a nest, they would stay together.

"Anything I can do?" Jane asked. "I am so _sick_ of diplomacy that I will change diapers again if you need."

" _Again?_ " The word came from every member of the nest, even Cable who had finished his push-ups and rose. Alley glanced at him and Ana and both nodded. She relaxed further. They were together again. For good or ill, they were together.

"Yeah." Colonel Kelly sighed. "Eighty seven _kids_ , no working _toilets_. Very little _water_. Do the _math_." She grimaced in memory. "Okay, maybe not _diapers_." She said quickly and Alley chuckled.

"Oh no, I _heard_ you and I have _witnesses_." Alley snickered as the human warrior glared at her. But then Jane's mouth twitched.

"Are you _sure_ you are not Asatru?" Jane asked when she relented and a smile crept onto her face. "You would make a _heck_ of a follower of Loki. You would likely even be able to make old one-eye laugh."

"There are people here you _really_ need to meet." Alley said with a smile as she fully relaxed for the first time since waking in this place. Her smile faltered. "For now? Stay with me?" She begged. "She... Vahlen made a copy of Mark too."

"Of _course_ she did." Jane took hold of Alley's hand. Then she paused as one of the woman down the hall spoke up.

"What about us, Colonel?" The woman asked, face worried.

"What _about_ you?" Jane Kelly retorted coldly. "You are _Alley's_ prisoners, not mine. I didn't want her to have any more pain after what she endured. Killing Mark's father would have hurt her very badly no matter how much he _deserves_ it. _You_ are _not_ my problem."

"Uh..." The woman looked at Alley and she nodded. "What is your will, um…?"

"You call me 'mistress' or anything like it and I _will_ tongue lash you." Alley said coldly and _everyone_ winced. That meant something _very_ different for Vipers. Something _painful_. "The Elders are gone and I refuse to take or hold slaves." All of them perked up a bit at that. "I cannot release you immediately because you have proven to be dangerous to me and mine." She looked away as sorrow slammed through her despite her passenger's best efforts. "I don't want you here any more than you want to be here, but..." She paused as the woman held up a hand. Alley fought a sigh and managed to contain it, barely. "This isn't a _classroom_. Speak."

"Do I have to go?" The woman asked. "I mean, this place isn't that great, but it is comfortable. And my little girl..." A tear fell down her face. "My little girl _died_ here. I want to make it _mean_ something."

Alley stared at the human, She felt something. Something she had no words for. It wasn't empathy, nor love, nor sadness, or anything she knew. But she felt it and she knew what to do even before her partner prompted her. Jane did not follow as Alley slithered slowly up to the now crying woman.

"What was her name?" Alley asked in a very quiet voice. The woman stared at her, eyes wide despite her tears and Alley slowly reached out to take the woman's hands in her own. "There has been enough death. I am _not_ your enemy. This is _not_ an attack."

The woman gasped as Alley slowly coiled around her, but then, her sobs eased as Alley's coils soothed her as she had soothed Mark so often in the past. Alley was crying softly too but for another reason. Joy.

"Twins." Alley said weakly and the woman stared at her through her tears. "I can feel them. You are carrying _twins!_ "

"The machine did it." The woman said weakly as Alley's head found her shoulder and their tears mingled. "I don't know who the father is or if there _is_ one."

"It doesn't matter." Alley reassured the woman. "That evil ends _now_. You and your children _will_ be safe here." The other woman looked doubtful, but Alley continued. "Trust must be earned. I will do my best to earn your trust. I will keep you and your children safe." A murmur of 'we will' came from her nest mates. "I will provide for them and for you as best I can while you remain here. I may not be able to save the ones who are already sick, but no _more_ will die here if I can help it. What was your daughter's name?" She inquired gently.

"I called her Shawnee. She was beautiful, but she lived a day. Only a _day_." The woman in Alley's coils cried as the Viper hugged her so very carefully and gently. Then she gasped as Alley rubbed her arms. Soothing. Calming. As Alley had always been meant to do. She relaxed, almost against her will. "I... I am, was X-Com. Why are you being so nice to me?"

"Because the cycle of violence must end. I am a bridge to facilitate communication. You have known nothing but horror from cold coils like mine." Alley said sadly.

"Maybe it is time to show you humans how _warm_ coils can be."


	31. Chapter 31

Epilogue

 **Beginnings and ends**

"Alley? We are ready."

Arisha's voice pulled Alley out of her trance. Alley looked up from the little boy she had been working on and smiled at his mother. The work had been delicate and a bit on the scary side, but she had managed. She really hadn't been ready for this, but between her ability and her passenger's advice? She had managed. The boy _would_ see three years of age now and if Alley was any judge? Many more.

"George is fine now. I destroyed them." Alley reassured the yellow skinned woman. Her name was Sima and she was still a bit leery around Alley. The Viper didn't blame her. She had been asleep through the mess at the airlock after a session in the machine. She was expecting again. She had woken to find her whole world changed. Alley knew that feeling and cut the woman a great deal of slack. "He will need rest, food and some time with Marina to schedule some careful rehabilitation, but he should be okay. I don't know about long term complications, but I don't feel anything else wrong. I didn't feel any more growing, for whatever that so worth. We should keep an eye on him just in case, but I think he will be fine. Well, as fine as a two year old can _get._ " Everyone laughed at that, even little George, but then again, he _liked_ Alley. She was funny and always nice to him even if she was scary looking.

"Today is special. You didn't need to see us _today_." The woman said quietly, shaking her head as her little boy made a funny face at Alley and she made a funny face back. "His life wasn't in jeopardy."

"No, but our _sanity_ was if he kept yelling." Alley handed the tyke back to his mom and smiled as he looked worried. The former X-Com operative smiled back, a bit hesitantly. "Hey! Buck up, kid. I don't _blame_ you for being upset! For screaming every time you sat wrong no matter how well you padded." Arisha was grinning openly and the human smiled a bit wider. "That is _not_ a comfortable place for a tumor to grow." The boy winced in memory and Alley tickled his cheek with a finger until he laughed. She grinned at him. "It shouldn't hurt now. If it _does?_ Come back and I will teach it some _more_ manners." He laughed again and Arisha joined in with Alley to laugh with him.

"No. Not comfortable at all. Thank you." Sima smiled as she hefted her son and then shook her head. "Is it time?" She asked Arisha.

"Yes." Arisha nodded. "Which means I need to get Alley into costume." She was already wearing an odd blue garment. It looked half armor, half dress. It worked on her thin form.

"I cannot _believe_ I let her and _them_ talk me into this." Alley said sourly as she uncoiled from her place beside the exam table. "I thought it would be like the movies."

" _Underwater?_ " Arisha and Sima chorused and then looked at each other. Arisha shrugged and the human woman nodded to Alley before leaving. She and George had a part to play as well. Arisha looked at Alley and winced.

"You really got it all?" Arisha asked very quietly.

"Yeah, I did." Alley gave herself a shake.

"Then why doesn't your mind feel happy?" Arisha knew her nest mate's moods very well after over a week of psi practice with her. Whenever Marina had demanded Alley stop and rest, she had focused on training Arisha. Not quite what Marina had to have had in mind, but no one argued with Alley.

"Because the tumor _destroyed_ one before it grew large enough to be noticeable and painful. I bet the _other_ is damaged. I can't sense such things yet. Maybe someday. I can heal a little, but not a lot and not what I cannot sense. Right now, that is mostly just blatant wrongness and the surrounding tissue. I knew he had them, but until yesterday? I didn't even _think_ about _where_. All I checked was that he wasn't in immediate danger. Nothing more. Poor kid." Alley said with a wince of her own as a muscle protested her long inactivity. She had taken great care not to hurt the kid. "I will have to leave it to Marina and any regular doc we may find crazy enough to come here, but…" She started for the door and Arisha was right beside her. "I don't think they can save the remaining one, Arisha. I don't think he will ever be able to have kids normally."

"He is _alive_ , Alley." Arisha said firmly as Alley led the way out out of the exam room into the halls. "You have driven yourself half mad trying to cure them all. None will die now. Not since..." She broke off and Alley nodded.

"Not since Jane, no." Alley agreed.

They had lost little Jane two days before despite everything that Marina and everyone else could do. Alley had knocked herself literally _unconscious_ trying to repair damage while removing tumors and Marina had _not_ been happy with her. Stopping short of removing all of the _dozens_ of tumors in the girl's body had been just as hard as finding the clone of Mark dead just after Alley had dealt with Jackson. The little girl had so brave through it all, but then she had finally slipped away and no one had been able to bring her back. Alley blamed herself even when everyone else had been quite firm in reminding her that she wasn't a goddess. That there were limits to her power. The elder Jane had patted Alley's shoulder and vanished from the facility with the small, sad form. No one was sure where she had gone, but the _dolphins_ had been conspicuous in their absence as well.

That group was downright scary at times. Jane and the dolphins were… Well… They were speaking Scandinavian languages around each other and few of the nest knew those modern languages, let alone the _ancient_ forms that Sven and Jane used. They had indeed, hit it right off. Which was good. It might have been messy otherwise.

She entered a larger room and came to a halt as she saw the moon pool was filled with finned forms. Beside it, a familiar human stood, resplendent in odd looking armor.

"Jane." Alley asked as Arisha chivied her towards where Jesse and Marina stood with expectant faces. Both wore attire more suited to ancient times than modern. Leather boots, wool tunics and pants. "You made it back. And I see you raided a museum or three."

"I did." Jane Kelly looked decidedly odd even as she grinned. Her armor looked like leather, but it had scales made of metal stitched across the front and sides. She had a sword belted at her side and a round shield slung across her back. She wore leather boots and an odd helmet, a conical thing with a half mask of metal that covered her face down to her nose, while leaving holes for her eyes. A cloak that looked like wool half covered it all. "Come on, girl. Time to get dressed."

"I cannot _believe_ I let you all talk me into this." Alley said sourly as she slid into place and both Marina and Jesse started draping cloth over her. "I _really_ thought you were going to do the whole 'ship and flaming arrows' deal."

"Hollywood, Alley." Jane groaned a bit humorously as Sven made a noise of consternation from the pool. "That is _Hollywood_. Do you have _any_ idea how _expensive_ long ships were in those days? They didn't burn them for _anyone_ , not even _kings_. You burned _enemy_ ships if you had no choice, not your _own_. Generally, you wanted to _steal_ them, not destroy them. Easier said than done." She smirked.

"Whatever." Alley groused as Marina set the sleeves in place and used small paired magnets to pin then in place. Alley fought hard not to move as Jesse started laying the garlands on her crest. Again, he had to use magnets to clip them in place since Alley had no skin. "How you doing?" She asked and Jane nodded soberly.

The elder Jane hadn't left the younger one's side the whole time the girl had fought for her life. She had slept beside the girl's bed, ready to aid, ready to comfort, ready to just be there. The little one had appreciated it, calling the older Jane 'Aunt' much to the warrior's consternation. Alley knew Jane was still hurting, but the woman wouldn't show it.

"Better." Jane admitted. "I buried her on my family's ancestral land in Ireland. Then, I got _drunk_. It has been rough, but the pod helped. I had to be here though. You need me to keep the pod in line." She grinned as Sven groaned.

"We _do_ want to stay on your _good_ side, skjaldmær." Sven chuckled. Alley though that word meant 'shield maiden', but she wasn't sure. They had all _kinds_ of words that Alley had no idea what they meant. She promised herself she would learn. "That said, if Ray _ever_ asks for mead again, _say no!_ " His words were fierce. Jane winced dramatically and Alley stared at her. " _Don't ask_." Sven said sourly. "That calf is a _moron_ at times."

"Ah, mead is fermented honey, isn't it? _Very_ strong alcohol?" Alley asked. Jane nodded and Sven made a noise of agreement. "Inebriated _dolphin?"_ She asked weakly. Both nodded. The dolphin's nod sent up a small splash. She shook her head. "I _don't_ want to know." She said quickly.

"No, you _don't_. He will be here, but he will likely be sore and hung over still." Jane stepped forward as Marina and Jesse finished up. "You look good, Alley." Jane smiled at the Viper as Alley gave herself a once over.

The dress was just like Arisha's but white instead of the blue Arisha wore. The studded leather armor was more symbolic that functional and it covered her from neck to arms. Cloth went the rest of the way down to the ground and she knew she would get it filthy. She knew the garlands on her crest were not real. They were plastic facsimiles of traditional flowers from both Earth and the Muton home world. Good thing they were fakes, the Muton flowers were all toxic to most other species. Pretty enough, Alley allowed.

"I feel foolish." Alley said sourly.

"This isn't for Mark, although I hope he would approve." Jane said quietly. "This is for those of us who knew him. A funeral and wake are traditional human means of seeking closure for lost loved ones." She grinned. "Be glad this isn't an _Irish_ funeral, we would be drinking for several days."

"Ick." Alley swallowed hard. She had tried human liquor once. _Once_ had been more than _enough_. She was _never_ going to live down the karaoke. " _Never_ again."

"Oh, come on, Alley." Marina smirked at Alley's tone. She remembered. "Live a little. We all _loved_ your Jon Bon Jovi. 'Living on a Prayer' never sounded quite like _that_ before." Jane looked at Marina who smiled wider. "We did make recordings of her and several other Vipers singing while drunk." Arisha looked interested but then Marina continued as her smile threatened to split her face. "By _some_ definitions of the word 'singing' anyway. _Loose_ ones." Alley groaned.

"That bad?" Arisha asked carefully.

" _Worse_. I was _very_ drunk." Alley snarled halfheartedly. "Marina… I thought you _destroyed_ those." She pleaded.

"Oh no." Marina shook her head. "I will need blackmail material in the future and such things are very good for that." Alley glared at her, but everyone else laughed.

"I am stalling." Alley said slowly. No one spoke and she continued. "Is it wrong that I am afraid?"

"No." Jane shook her head. "But as of this moment, nothing is moving anywhere near the area we cordoned off. The rest of the group are there."

"Then let's go." Alley started off and the others followed. Sven submerged in the pool. He would meet them there. The area in question was a small island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, not too far from the facility. Easily within dolphin travel distance, even normal ones not augmented by Elder tech. Alley had seen the place only in pictures but she had immediately fallen in love with it. She knew Mark would have too.

"Who is staying with the kids?" Jane asked as the group trooped towards the airlock.

Alley nodded. None of the clones who were left were in danger of dying now, but none were what anyone might call 'robust'. They would recover in time, but it would take time. No one wanted to take any chances with them.

"Carol and Neery volunteered to stay with the four who are too ill to expose to weather." Alley said with a small frown. "I will keep an eye on them. I have some kind of com built in now. Not sure of the tech, but I was told it was some kind of natural quantum entanglement. I can stay in touch and run things from the other side of the solar system. Neery had a bad morning. I think Marina needs to up her dose of anti-nausea meds again." Marian grimaced, but then nodded, her face grave.

Carol had been the woman Alley had comforted at the airlock, the one whose daughter had only lived a day. Neery was the other and while she didn't _quite_ trust Alley even now, she didn't want to lose her place here either. She was having a bad time with everything changing as well as being pregnant and as a result, she _was_ a bit of a grump. She _did_ appreciate Alley's and the nest's help. She wouldn't cause any problems. _Carol_ was turning into quite an asset. Formerly a nurse, she was a _godsend_ with the kids. Losing little Jane had hurt her very badly and Alley had spent several hours crying with her, after. Alley had let all the women but Vahlen stay, twenty of them all told of various ages. The other X-Com troops, including Jackson and Vahlen, had been remanded into X-Com custody and good _riddance!_ Alley _never_ wanted to see _them_ again.

The silence that fell was comfortable. The group marched to the airlock and there, George and Sima stood waiting. Both wore the same attire as Jesse and Marina. George was playing with the rope belt that held his pants up and Sima looked a bit uncomfortable. Both nodded to the group and all of them entered the airlock. They took seats in the troop bay of the ship and waited as it powered up Today, Cable was flying and he was going to be very careful. The hum that heralded its engines built as a clank heralded its undocking. The trip would be short.

"I just realized; I have never thanked you." Sima said softly. Alley stared at her, perplexed and the woman frowned. "For letting me and George stay. All of us." Alley made a face, but Sima shook her head. "You didn't need to."

"Sima, you woke from horror to find your whole world changed." Alley heaved a soft sigh. "I know that feeling. I know it well. No, I wasn't going to toss you out. You and the other women were hurt just as much as the clones were. Worse, maybe. You had to go through it again and again. I may not ever be able to forgive Vahlen what she did, but the _rest_ of you? I can't ever have children, Sima." She had tried, but her sterility was irreversible after everything. The nest were looking at options, but it didn't look good for _any_ of the Vipers. They might _only_ be able to reproduce by cloning as the Elders had done. "I won't ever know the full joy of seeing them prosper _or_ the full pain of losing them. That said, I _am_ female _and_ a psi. I know _some_ of your pain. I will _not_ add to it." That was a vow.

"You have suffered enough pain for _many_ people." Sima would not meet Alley's eyes. "And _now?_ This place? You are really _doing_ it." Awe colored her voice.

"The Mutons needed help and it helps me to help others." Alley shook her head. "So many others _need_ the help. Humans and aliens alike. All twenty of you are welcome to stay as long as you want and as long as you abide by the rules. We will find work for you and we will not make you mingle with non-humans."

"Maybe a little late for that." Sima smiled a bit tremulously as she looked at Arisha and then back at Alley. Then her face fell. "I don't know _which_ of us sent the guy with the pistol." Alley did not react even though her heart twisted at the oblique mention of her partner's death. "It could have been _me_. I was so _angry_." George's face was ashen, but he didn't speak, he just hugged his mother.

"Sima, stop. You had _cause_ to be angry." Alley reached out and laid a hand on the woman's arm. The troop bay wasn't that big. It was long, but not wide. "The past is past. We cannot change that. We must deal with the future. Thank you for coming."

" _Someone_ has to keep the kids you spoil in line, Matron Alley." Sima said with a frown that turned into a grin as Alley groaned and everyone else laughed.

"If I _ever_ find out who told Oshina that title..." Alley started repressively, but everyone laughed again and a smile curled her lips despite her best efforts. "Gah! You people!"

Herman had never stopped calling her that despite a fairly solid spanking. Then _Oshina_ had made that her formal title and Alley couldn't change the stubborn Muton's mind no matter how hard she tried. He was Clan Leader and his word was law. He had decided that since she was running the facility and she was in charge of the humans and others who would be coming through it for treatment that she _would_ be called that. No matter how much she screamed at him, he simply stood there until she ran down. Then he ordered and she obeyed. She wasn't _stupid_. She couldn't fight her Clan Leader, but... She _would_ figure out who told him and muster a proper revenge eventually.

"You took responsibility. You have a _very_ hard job." Sima was totally serious now as she laid her hand on Alley's. "You do so much and I see how much it has cost you. How much it _is_ costing you."

"Speaking of." Marina was stern as she reached into a pouch and everyone else grinned as Alley cringed hard. "Alley. You used a lot of energy. You know what to do." The medic's tone brooked no insubordination as she held out a small bag to the Viper. " _Now._ "

"Tyrant." Alley took the bag and focused on it. The glucose within wasn't a perfect match for her body, but it did _work_ to replenish her vital energy. Vahlen had discovered the formula and it worked for all the Vipers, much as Alley hated being indebted to the woman. Sima's eyes widened a little as the bag slowly emptied. Alley was pulling the sugars directly into herself to replenish the energy she had used to heal George. "You know the sugars make my head hurt." Her moan was so plaintive that George reached out to pat her other hand.

"If you go down again, Oshina will beat me." Marina said sternly. "So _don't_." She growled.

"Whatever." Alley groused as she finished pulling the sugar in the bag and tried to focus past the pain in her head. It wasn't debilitating. It was just _there_ and no one could find any reason for it. The sugars were not dangerous, far from it. She just got a headache every time. Probably something quirky in her genetic makeup that no one could explain. She did feel stronger as she crumpled the bag and stowed it in a trash receptacle.

"Two minutes." Cable called from the cockpit. "Pod reports no traffic in the area. They are monitoring." The dolphins could not come onto the land, but they _would_ ward the sea and their songs _would_ be heard.

"Good." Alley wasn't sure what else was in the ocean, but there were things that Vahlen hadn't had any dealings with. Things that there were no records of. Shadowy, creepy things. They stayed away from the facility and as far as Alley was concerned? They could _stay_ away. She had enough problems. "Everyone here?"

"Yeah." Cable sounded subdued and who could blame him? Today, they were saying goodbye to Mark.

The ship grated on something and then shuddered a little as it came to a stop. Alley waited until the light over the hatch turned green before rising. No one else moved until she did and she bit back a sigh. Protocol. She hated protocol sometimes. Jane moved to flank her and Alley nodded. She had asked the warrior to stand with her and the human had agreed. Jane knew the rituals and knew the pain.

They strode out of the ship to a sight none had ever seen. Alley's nest stood on one side of grassy way that was little more than a dirt path. A full dozen of Oshina's Mutons lined the other. All were fully armed and armored with modern gear. The being who stood nearby was _not_. Oshina nodded to Alley as she slithered forward. His armor was archaic looking, but functional and the pole-arm he held had both a spear point and a wicked looking scythe blade attached. Knowing him? It had more tricks she couldn't see. Alley nodded back. She looked and saw Sima moving to a group of humans, most young who stood nearby with anxious expressions. Arisha nodded and moved to them as well. Some clustered around her, garbed as she was. A small choir but knowing Arisha? Well drilled. Jesse joined her. Cable and Marina joined their partners, but the medic kept her eyes on Alley. Oshina's command had been firm. The guards were to protect _Alley_. Period. Her power was what could save the clan. The nest would protect her anyway, but now? Only a _madman_ would try this assemblage of barely constrained violence. She bet even Jane Kelly had a modern backup weapon _or three_ hidden in her historical costume and maybe more on call. Arisha chivied her group fully into place and nodded again. Priestess Milodi moved to join the choir, smiling at Alley. No one would see her if she didn't wish it, but Alley _knew_ the Lady was watching. Alley didn't mind.

"We know the old things. The old ways. _This_ is a _new_ thing in an _old_ way." Alley spoke up when she was sure everyone was ready. "The Elders hurt us _all_. Humans, Mutons, Vipers, others. _All_ of us will bear scars from what they did, both physical and mental. The past can hurt, but we must look to the _future_. Today, we seal the barrow on my partner. We consign his body to the earth." Her voice cracked a little, but no one commented. "Whatever gods we held before the Elders, few remember. I just hope that if they _do_ exist, that they look on the fallen warrior who guided me and my nest for so long with compassion. That they take him up to serve. To defend. To do what we were supposed to do all along. _To_ _protect the future_."

She turned to Oshina and nodded again. He started off and she followed, her heart heavy as she saw the huge mound in the distance. She didn't need to look to know the others were following her. She could hear the choir start to sing, Arisha and Milodi joining voices in a beautiful harmony. She didn't know the language, but it was gorgeous. Probably something Scandinavian if she knew Jane Kelly.

Alley hadn't thought that they _could_ completely bury even _that_ small ship, but the clan and the nest had _managed_. Even the carved wooden dragons that adorned bow and stern posts were underground. Just as the Northmen of old had, they had laid Mark out in state, fully armed and armored. His slain enemies' weapons had been recovered by X-Com and 'donated' at Jane's firm urging. Jane and the nest had arrayed them around him along with various trinkets he had acquired in his missions and kept, modern plunder. The nest had raided their old lodgings in the city center they had once called home and had recovered a lot. No one had dared to stop them, _especially_ when Oshina sent a 'small' force with them. _Twenty armed and armored Mutons_ marching in formation made a _hell_ of an impression even when non-violent. From his and Alley's room, they had taken just a few things in addition to his trinkets. A quilted comforter he had made himself that they laid under him. The DVDs of his favorite human movies, they had laid at his side along with a small, somewhat bedraggled stuffed bear that he had kept ever since Alley had given it to him on his tenth birthday. Alley had cried over that for quite a while when Marina had brought it to her. They had _also_ laid the clone that Vahlen had made of him beside their fallen leader, to stay with him into whatever afterlife awaited them. The nest garbed him as one of their own. Armed and armored. Mark and his copy would look after each other if Alley knew _anything_ about her partner. In time, the barrow they were sealing would look just like any other hill. But it wasn't. It was her _past_ that she was burying here.

As to her _future?_

"Oshina." Alley kept her voice low as she slithered beside him, Jane a watchful presence at her back. "Riloa came through the procedure fine. She will wake in a few hours." The Muton Riloa had demanded to be the first to try the procedure since Alley really had no idea if it would work or not. If it would kill her or not. She had stated she owed Mark and no one had defied her wish. Well, not for very long and _that_ particular Muton _would_ survive, albeit with a few new spectacular scars. Riloa fought _dirty_. Oshina looked a question at Alley and she smiled. "It worked. She is fertile."

Oshina being Oshina, he did not sigh in relief. He simply nodded. But Alley knew he was jumping for joy inside where none could see. His clan had a future. _All_ of the Mutons on Earth had a future. One that Alley and many others would do their damnedest to ensure came to fruition. The facility and Alley's nest would now use all of the available machinery and Alley's special skills to make sure that human _and_ alien could bear young safely.

As legacies went? _That_ was one that Mark could be proud of.

 _Life._


End file.
